


As It Breaks

by SerStolas



Series: Post Rogue One Stories [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst with a Happy Ending, At Least They Survived Scarif, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I'm an angsty little shit, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reunions, Slice of Life, talk of child-soldiers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-10-16 16:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 32,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10575396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: Everyone Survived Scarif.  As the war goes on, everyone finds their own place, and romance blossoms. Cassian and Jyn are left to deal with the aftermath of their experiences, and hopefully build their future together.Note 5/22/17 - The plan is to continue this story through a bit more of Cassian and Jyn's family growing up and through the point when Rogue One joins the Resistance in ABY 28.  After that I'll pick up with Rogue One family's adventures with the Resistance in Break Away.COMPLETE.Sorry for any prior-mistags.





	1. Heartbreak

**Author's Note:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

They'd survived Scarif. 

They shouldn't have survived, they knew that, but somehow they had. Somehow they, and handful of the others who'd gone with them had survived.

The names of the dead were carved into their mines the way one carves names into stone.

But they had survived.

As the war dragged on, Cassian continued his work in Intelligence. Bodhi was eventually accepted into an X-Wing squadron. Chirrut and Baze stayed and assisted in the training of the new Jedi and other odds and ends. 

It took Jyn some months to really get her feet under her. They'd been in Echo Base for almost three months before she had an encounter with Kes Dameron, and learned about the Pathfinders.

If Jyn knew nothing else, she knew how to survive. In her years with Saw, she'd learned to do dirty work that most civilized people would flinch at. She knew a little bit of scavenging, sniping, sneaking, and another number of other talents that could be useful to the Pathfinders.

Cassian had congratulated her when she'd officially been accepted into the Pathfinders. They both knew she'd never been suited for Intelligence, try though she might, and the further she was away from Draven, the better. 

The crew of Rogue One only saw each other rarely through the rest of the war, scattered between missions and outposts, going wherever the Rebel Alliance needed them.

Somehow Cassian and Jyn still managed to carve out time with each other. A stolen kiss here, an embrace there, a couple of hours in between assignments when they ended up at the same base. 

Neither of them called what they had love, not at the beginning. When the high of surviving Scarif wore off and the reality of the death toll sank in, they were both merely looking for comfort; for the touch of another human being who could understand everything they've been through. 

Jyn knew about the blood on Cassian's hands, and she accepted it. Cassian knew what she'd been through and was willing to deal with her trust issues. They made a good team, and better comfort for each other than anyone else could survive.

As the years and the fighting wore on, they accepted on an unspoken level that there was an attachment forming between the two of them. Gentle touches and deep gazes marked their time together. A brush of his lips against hers when he got sent on another mission that would last weeks or months; a fierce embrace when the Pathfinders were headed off on yet another possible suicide mission.

Neither ever muttered the L word to the other. He referred to her using a Festian endearment, and she called him 'dear' more than once. It felt like enough when he cupped her chin and kissed her, wishing her luck before the Pathfinders moved with the ground team before Endor.

When the second Death Star exploded and sent a brilliant light through the sky, as Cassian watched from the bridge of a ship, he knew he wanted more.

When Jyn stared up from rounding up Storm Troopers to see the menace fall to pieces above the forests of Endor, she thought about Cassian, and the hope that they'd see each other again.

Just days later, they stood before Admiral Ackbar and exchanged vows. They knew the war wasn't over with yet, even with the Emperor and Vader dead, but both Cassian and Jyn saw a chance for a future now, and they made decision to embrace that future together, whatever it might bring.

They had only a night before they were both deployed again, off to fight more battles against a dying Empire. Cassian was forced to go deep under cover and had only brief chances to check in. Jyn found herself on more and more missions with the Pathfinders.

Then Jakku.

Cassian was in the middle of a debrief when word came that a squad of Pathfinders were MIA. It was nearly two weeks later when contact was made with the remaining members of the squad, battling it out to a standstill against Imperial forces.

When the list of survivors came through, Cassian was leaning over a screen, conferring with Mon Mothma, when a Lieutenant rushed in and handed her a data pad. Mothma's expression was carefully neutral as she read over the names. 

Minutes passed before she finally looked up and met Cassian's gaze, and what he saw in her eyes made him feel as if the world had dropped from beneath his feet. The sympathy and pity in that look stung as much as the day his parents had been killed. Over the next few days and weeks, he buried himself in his work, trying to ignore the new hole in his heart.

They should have all died on Scarif. That thought haunted what little sleep he managed. Bodhi, Chirrut, and Baze all made contact, but none of it really helped. He had his word, as he'd had before Jyn. The world without Jyn was darker and colder than he remembered. 

Eventually the Empire and Rebel Alliance signed the Galactic Concordance, and the war officially ended.

Somehow Kes Dameron and Shara Bey convinced him to settle on Yavin 4. 

Some people were never really suited well for civilian life, and Cassian, particularly without the hope that a life with Jyn had promised, was one of those people. He found himself running the bar at a cantina, always sober enough to serve.

In his off hours though, the alcohol became the only way he could think of to escape the dreams; to escape the remembered scent of Jyn on his pillow, her body pressed against his own, his fingers entwined in her hair. 

Bodhi visited sometimes, but he was a reminder of another time, a time when they'd survived the impossible; a time when Cassian's wife had still been alive. The Pilot never stayed more than a few days, but he always made a promise to keep in touch.

Chirrut's wisdom never seemed to piece the darkness that surrounded Cassian when the blind Guardian and Baze visited. Churrit and Baze always stayed a few more days, a Chirrut's insistence, and would go and visit Kes and Shara, and their little son Poe. Chirrut would admire the force tree planted by the Dameron's home.  
He dragged Cassian there one day and made the former intelligence officer stand near the plant.

“She is one with the Force,” Chirrut told his old friend. “She is still with you.”

Chirrut and Baze left a day later, the words Chirrut had given Cassian giving him no comfort in the cold light of morning. 

Cassian sat at the table in his small kitchen, staring out the window as the gray rays of dawn spilled through a window, his fingers clenched around a bottle. He'd cut back on drinking during the days he had visitors, but now that he was alone again?

He wasn't scheduled to work today, and these days were always the worst; when he had not even the comfort of work to try and ignore the hollowness in his heart. He stared out the window, his fingers curling tightly around the neck of the bottle before he lifted it to his lips and took a long swig. He felt the burn slide down his throat, a numbness slowly settling over him.

A knock at the door jerked him out of his stupor Who in Force would be coming to his door this early in the morning. He ignored the knocking as it became more insistent. He took another swig, willing whoever it was to just go away. Minutes passed, and he finally forced himself to his feet and went to the door, prepared to tell the knocker to go away and slam the door in their face.

At first he couldn't tell who it was. The face of the small figure was shaded by their shadow, dawn's light spilling around them and through the door way, momentarily blinding him.

Then his eyes refocused, and he dropped the bottle.


	2. Names and Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My angsty little muse decided to be nice to me and gave me ideas for additional chapters. Thank you so much to the readers who were interested in seeing more! So lets see what happened after the Battle of Jakku...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney and LucasArts

Rumors whispered around the prison said the Empire and the Rebel Alliance had signed a peace treaty. Supposedly the Galactic Civil War was over. 

When you’re stuck in an Imperial Prison on some supposedly sparsely populated Outer Rim planet with little or no Imperial presence, though, rumors were just that, only rumors. Even if they were true and the Empire had promised to release prisoners of war, the prisoners didn’t believe it would happen to them. 

Those still left alive were mainly from Jakku or skirmishes that occurred before the treaties were signed. Most of those still alive were just waiting to die – either from malnourishment, overwork, or suicide of you could work up the nerve.

She waited for none of those. Her life since the Empire murdered her mother and took her father when she was younger was one of survival. They would not, could not, break her. She merely bided her time and looked for allies where she could, allies that were willing to take risk, a risk that could either free them all, or would end in their deaths.

They never gave each other their real names. Real names would wait until they were free. She knew Spook was former Rebel Intelligence, and was Spook had worked with her husband at least once in the past. A knowing look had passed once between them, and Spook had merely nodded after several tense, quiet moments. 

She liked Spook. The man had a level head about him, and measured every risk they took carefully, calculating chances of survival. It reminded her a bit of a droid she’d once known.

Then there was Scorch, an ordinance expert and ground pounder for the Rebels. Scorch wasn’t much taller or bigger than herself, but Scorch had a certain presence about her that scared even the guards when she got in a mood. 

Their original plans fell to dust when Wings had been killed in an accident in the mines one day, leaving them minus a pilot. She and Spook had done what recon they could to find a new one, but surprisingly Scorch had been the one to find Aero. The man had been one of the last prisoners transferred to the camp before the treaties had been signed and Scorch had somehow broken him out of solitary during one of the frequent riots.

Then there was her, Finder. The name came from a shortening of her original Rebel designation. Using nicknames based on their positions in the Rebellion seemed a lot safer, emotionally, than giving actual names.

Since the treaties, things had been getting lax: guards weren’t paying as much attention, or had just stopped caring. Spook relayed that they were waiting for something and theorized it would either be a mass execution, or just waiting for the prisoners to die. Working conditions were shit and none of them were well fed. With no medical attention to injuries, deaths were becoming more frequent.

Finder could look at the prisoners and with just a glance tell who wanted to survive, and who had resigned themselves to death. As much as she hated the thought of anyone getting left behind, it was the survivors she started recruiting.

Years ago, when she’d first joined the Rebellion, she wouldn’t have cared about leaving anyone behind. Her time with the Rebellion, of learning Hope, had changed that.

Finally their chance came under cover of dark one night. The higher ranking officers who ran the prison had been mostly pulled off planet, leaving it vulnerable to their plan. Originally they’d planned to break and run, but Scorch got the brilliant idea to take over the place. Sure, she said, they could fly themselves and maybe a few others out, but if they took over and got to the Communications center, they could flag someone.

There were too many prisoners left, even with the deaths, for them to know they could fly everyone out. Reluctantly Spook and Aero agreed. Finder was all for it.

Spook let Aero and Scorch out of their cells, and under Finder and Spook’s direction, they slowly made their way through the prison, overtaking guards as they found them and stealing weapons. Most they subdued, but three they’d been forced to kill and stash the bodies in out of the way places.

Along the way they let other prisoners, the survivors Finder had recruited, out, and their force slowly fanned out through the prison, incapacitating or killing guards and officers alike. 

The fight to take the prison headquarters was the most difficult, but the firepower they’d stolen from the fallen troopers helped. Finder took out her fair share, being both a deadly shot and perhaps a bit more willing to take risks than Aero.

She was pretty sure she’d seen Spook use a garrote on at least one of the officers.

Aero proved surprisingly nibble and took two out in hand to hand.

When an officer had managed to get in the other door and come in firing, Scorch moved with a speed that surprised them all, given her current injured and malnourished state, and body checked the man against a wall. He fought back, but somehow she maneuvered herself behind him and got her hands on either side of his head.

He fell with a sickening snap.

Scorch wore a fierce scowl as she looked over the damage. She nodded to Finder when she saw no further officers or troopers stood in the room.

“You and Aero got this?” Scorch asked.

“Yeah,” Finder said. “We’ll get the message out.” She shot a glance at Spook. “Spook, you’re with Scorch. See if there are anymore officers.”

Spook gave a silent salute as he and Scorch slipped from the room.

Three more of their survivors reported to the command center within half an hour, reporting that all found guards and officers had been dealt with and the prisoners were in process of being freed. Fifteen minutes after that, Spook and Scorch confirmed they’d taken the prison.

Meanwhile Aero was swearing over the comm channel. Taking the prison had taken hours, and now Aero was sitting here in the light of pre-dawn trying to get through to someone who would actually listen. Two attempts had been cut off by people unwilling to deal with Aero’s claims.

Finally they made it through to General Solo. The man hadn’t seemed surprised at the news that the Imperials had a secret prison. 

Two days later, former Rebellion forces, men and women who had officially retired but had been willing to take on a post-war covert mission, landed.

They were well and truly free.

Scorch smirked at Finder and told her after they were home again, she’d stop by so Finder could pay up on the bed, when Spook and Aero had kissed in the middle of the yard, surrounded by former Rebellion forces. 

“What’s your name?” Finder asked Scorch.

Scorch actually paused and seemed to think about it for a long moment. The Zabrak shrugged. “Vexei Ly. Think I like Scorch better. I was a bounty hunter, before I joined the Rebellion.” She gave Finder a pointed look. “You?”

“Jyn…Jyn Erso-Andor,” Finder replied.

“Well, Jyn Erso-Andor, why don’t we go drag Spook and Aero out of each other’s arms, and find ourselves a way home?” Scorch, Vexei Ly, asked.


	3. As Pieces Fit Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter for today. I am a sap for reunions and I couldn't get this one out of my head. Thank you to everyone who has read, commented or kudoed!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

Bodhi Rook would be the first to admit that hauling cargo in a freighter was not nearly as exciting as piloting and X-Wing. The pay might not be as steady, but he preferred it to the possibility of encountering former Empire Officers now working for the Galactic Republic.

He’d just returned from a night of drinking in a cantina with old Rebellion buddies when the message came holocall came in to the _Oblivion_. Bodhi rubbed at his eyes, really wanting to do nothing more than hit his bunk, but he answered the call when he recognized the caller.

“General Solo,” Bodhi greeted the smuggler turned general as the man came through on the screen.

“Lieutenant Rook,” Solo returned the greeting. He smirked faintly when he noticed Bodhi’s state. “Thought you were just getting off a run.”

“I was,” Bodhi replied. “Then went and met some old friends.”

“Well, don’t want you flying before you’ve slept it off, so catch a few hours then set a course for Bespin,” Solo instructed him.

The Pilot’s eyebrows shot up. “That an order, General?” he asked.

Solo laughed. “Just a suggestion, seeing as you’re no longer serving, technically.” The man’s expression changed then, to one of anticipation. “No, Rook, I’ve got some interesting news, and someone I think you need to meet. It’s good, I promise, but I’d rather give you the news in person.”

Rook frowned and chewed on his lower lip. “Alright…I’ll see you in Cloud City.”

Solo smirked again. “See you there.”

After the channel closed, Bodhi would have had a hard time getting to sleep if he wasn’t exhausted from his last run. He set a timer though, thinking he wanted to know Solo’s news sooner rather than later, but the man was right, he couldn’t fly as well without sleep.

When he finally docked in Cloud City, Solo was waiting for him in the hanger.

The cocky smuggler slung a hand around Bodhi’s shoulders as he led him further into the city. It wasn’t until they were alone though that the man gave more than a standard greeting and pleasantries. 

“So it seems like the Imps were running an illegal work prison even after the treaties were signed,” Solo told him over a cup of caf. “Technically there were no new prisoners after the treaties were signed, but they didn’t release those who had been previously captured.”

Bodhi grimaced. “That might have surprised me once, but not now. So what happened?”

“Seems the guards got lax, and some of the prisoners headed up a take-over. Once they got a hold of the command center, they got through to me. Except for a handful, every prisoner was a former Rebel.” Solo frowned something fierce. “Seems there are a lot of people who weren’t willing to deal with it, called it rocking the boat, but I found enough volunteers among our forces to pull the former prisoners out. Would have called you but you were on a run.”

Bodhi felt a strange relief knowing the former Imperial prisoners were free. “So anyone I know?”

Solo nodded. “That’s why I called you.” He glanced towards the entrance to the room. 

Bodhi hurt the whiz of the doors opening, and then launched himself out of his chair when he saw who it was.

Jyn was laughing as he caught her in a tight hug, returning the friendly embrace. Another woman stood behind her, arms crossed and watching with mild amusement. The short, compact Zabrak grinned when Bodhi finally set Jyn back down. “So Finder, this is The Pilot, eh?”

Jyn gestured the Zabrak forward, a grin on her own lips. “Yes, Vexei, this is Bodhi Rook, the Pilot. Bodhi, this is Vexei Ly. I met her-“ Jyn’s expression closed off for a moment and Vexei continued.

“We met in the abyss,” Vexei supplied, taking Bodhi’s offered hand and shaking it. “Call me Scorch.”

Jyn’s expression cleared and she snorted. “Still, Vexei?”

The Zabrak woman shrugged. “I’ll respond to my name, but there’s a lot attached to it…I still like Scorch.” She glanced at Bodhi. “Now, General Solo said you might be able to help us get to Yavin 4?”

Bodhi smiled, though this time it was a little sad as he regarded the women. “Yeah, I can take you on the _Oblivion_.” He hesitated a moment then addressed Jyn. “Cassian’s taken all of it pretty hard, Jyn. He’s been drinking.”

Scorch put a hand on Jyn’s shoulder, reading the woman’s body language even though Jyn’s expression remained neutral. “You’ll get ‘im straightened out, Jyn.”

Bodhi picked up on the encouragement in the Zabrak’s voice. “She’s right, Jyn. Once he sees you again..”

Jyn straightened her shoulders, a smile, if a bit of a forced one, returning to her lips. “So you said you could get me home, Bodhi?”

~~  
It was almost dawn when the _Oblivion_ touched down on Yavin 4. Scorch volunteered to stay at the space station and help Bodhi put the ship to rights while Jyn went on ahead.

Spook and Aero, as Jyn still thought of them in her head, had found passage to Corellia after they’d been pulled from the prison, but Scorch admitted she didn’t have anywhere in particular to go just yet. Feeling a kinship with the other woman, Jyn offered to let Scorch come with her as far as Yavin 4. According to Solo, she had enough former comrades and friends on Yavin 4 that someone might be able to point Scorch in the direction of decent employment. 

Scorch considered staying in Cloud City, but had decided she wanted to see Jyn home first.

Bodhi was amiable enough to the former ground pounder and bounty hunter helping him with the ship, so Jyn found a speeder for rent and with directions from Bodhi, headed towards the house Cassian had evidently bought after the war.

During their time in hyperspace, Bodhi had warned her about Cassian’s current state. Peacetime without his wife was hard on a man who’d known war almost all his life. He had a job, and he stayed sober on the clock, but afterwards..

“He’s drinking too much, and not the good stuff either,” Bodhi told her bluntly.

“Sounds like a friend of mine,” Scorch had said quietly. “One of the reasons I joined the Rebellion…Imps killed his wife for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was never the same.” 

Jyn Erso-Andor, who had faced down Scarif, Imperial Troops, and any number of other dangerous, found her heart beating to fast in her chest as she climbed off the speeder in front of the house and approached the door. The first rays of dawn spilled around her as she reached up with a shaky hand and rapped on the door.

Her breath caught as the door finally swung open after knocks stretched out over several minutes. The sight before her had never made her feel such joy as now, and yet it broke her heart all the same.

Cassian blinked, shielding his eyes from the sun, staring at her in disbelief. A glass bottle shattered at their feet, but neither paid it any mind.

“Jyn?” he whispered her name like a prayer.

She hadn’t cried since Scarif, but she was crying now. She reached a hand out towards him as tears spilled from her eyes. “Cassian.”

He pulled her into his arms, clutching her to him as if he was afraid she’d go up in smoke. He buried his face against her neck as his hands ran over the short, clipped hair that had been a result of her capture and imprisonment. He chanted her name against her skin. “Jyn…Jyn..Jyn.”

“Force, Cassian,” she pulled his head up to hers, pressing her lips against his own, and he enveloped her in his arms, the line of her body pressed against his own.

It felt like minutes or hours later, when they came up for air and he pulled her back into the house, the door swinging shut behind them. They sat next to each other on the couch, his fingers clutching at hers, afraid to let go.

“How?” he asked at last.

Jyn took a shaky breath, for a moment not sitting in the living room of her husband’s home, but in a cell. She shook her head to clear it and held his hand a bit tighter. “The Imperials,” she replied. “They had a prison they kept even after the treaties. Didn’t bring in new prisoners, but they were either waiting for all of us to die or-“ she shrugged, squeezing Cassian’s hand again when she saw him start. “Couple of us weren’t willing to take the risk, so we took the place over and called for help.”

Cassian really smiled this time, for the first time since he’d opened the door. “If anyone had the guts to take over an Imperial prison, it would be you.” He pulled her closer then, enough to wrap his arm around her waist, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. “How’d you get to Yavin?”

“Solo was the one who brought in the cavalry,” Jyn supplied, her green eyes looking up to meet his brown. “He made contact with Bodhi once we were on Bespin. Bodhi brought Scorch and I here.”

He managed a chuckle. “Of course it would be Solo.” He paused and tilted his head. “Scorch?”

“Another POW,” Jyn said. “She’s helping Bodhi set his ship to rights. I don’t think we’ll see them until later.”

Cassian nodded, pressing his face into her short hair. “So much to talk about…but right now all I want to do is hold you.”

Jyn nodded against his shoulder. “I think I’d like that.”


	4. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassina and Jyn finally have their talk and plan for the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

She listened to the sound of the rain on the roof as she lay wrapped in Cassian's arms. Her head rested on his shoulder and his arm pinned her to his side in sleep, not that Jyn minded. Of all the things she'd missed in the months she'd been held prisoner by the Imperials, this was one of the greatest. 

Cassian's comforting embrace had lead to kisses and caresses, and they'd eventually ended up in desperate lovemaking in his...their bed. His greeting earlier was enough to tell her Cassian certainly hadn't moved on after she'd been declared MIA, and now that the war was over and she was free, Jyn had no intention of going far from him.

She savored the sound of his even breathing as she considered her new situation. From the time her mother was killed, she'd spent life either on the run, or with the Rebellion. The thought of a quiet life in peacetime seemed almost alien.

One idea they'd discussed during one of their few reunions after getting married on Endor was adopting a few war orphans, and giving a home to those children they could so that they wouldn't have to experience the loneliness that Cassian and Jyn had grown up knowing.

The idea had been a distant dream while in the Imperial Prison, one she'd mentioned only once in passing to Scorch, when the two women had lain awake one night, staring at the top of their bunks, dreaming of what they would do when, not if, they got free. Scorch had always insisted they would find a way out.

Thankfully the Zabrak had been right.

She turned her head when she felt Cassian shifting restlessly beside her and realized he was dreaming. The anguish in his voice when he called out to her ripped at her heart.

“No, Jyn, Jyn NO!” 

“Cassian!” She rolled onto her side as much as his arm would let her and touched his face. “Cassian wake up, I'm here, love.”

Cassian sat up with a jolt, pulling her along with them as the sheets pooled around their naked torsos. His eyes flew open and he stared at her for a long moment before pulling her to him, his touch desperate. “Jyn...you're really here. Mi Amor,” he breathed into her hair as he pressed his face against it, and she felt his tears sliding down her neck.

“I'm real, Cassian, I promise, and I'm not going anywhere,” she said, wrapping her arms tightly around his shuttering body.

It took several minutes for Cassian to recover completely, and even when he did he kept her close to his side. She listened to his heart beat as they breathed in time to one another.

“What happened?” Cassian asked into the dark.

“The Imperials got lucky and trapped us in a canyon,” Jyn began slowly. They'd put off this talk earlier. She wanted to get it out now though, so hopefully she'd never have to recount it again. “Low on power cells for the blasters, injured...they got the drop on most of my squad, took three of us alive and sent us to prison to hold us as prisoners of war.”

She paused and took one slow breath, and then another. It really hadn't differed from other Imperial prisons and work camps she'd been in, except in this one, they weren't really in it for just slave labor. They sent the POWs there intending to let them rot and die.

“We heard rumors of the  Galactic Concordance and figured it must be real, since they stopped bringing in new prisoners, but they weren't about to free any of us.” Jyn recited the words, distancing herself from them for a moment. “Things started getting more lax, so I found other members of the Rebellion who wanted out. Spook, he was Intelligence, then Aero was an X-Wing pilot. Scorch was a former bounty hunter and a Rebel solider. We recruited others. Eventually we saw our chance and took it.”

“How'd you get off planet?” he asked softly, nuzzling her ear. The small gesture made her smile. 

“Aero finally managed to get through to General Han Solo, so how. It took hours. Two other parties weren't interested in dealing with a 'Suspected Imperial Prison,' cowards,” Jyn felt anger creeping in her voice and forced herself to take another breath. “Solo managed to find former Rebellion forces that were willing to do a rescue run. Solo got us to Bepsin himself, then holoed Bodhi.”

Cassian sighed. “Damn. How much did I miss?”

“Stuck in drink?” Jyn asked, quiet chiding in her voice. “There will be no more of that, Cassian, you here me? I'm alive and I'm right here in your arms. I won't let you drink yourself to death now.”

Cassian laughed softly, a sound filled with joy and wonder at their reunion. “I don't intend to. I still have to work tomorrow. I've been tending at the local cantina, though if I sober up I think there might be more, maybe managing the place. The owner is older...it's odd, not being a spy.”

Jyn looked thoughtful. “With as few and far between as places are in Yavin, running a cantina is a good way to get information. We might be retired from the Rebellion, but there's nothing saying we can't keep old contacts. And I can put a lot of things back together again. We might be able to make a decent life here.”

“Kes Dameron and Shara Bey live on a ranch further out,” Cassian said. “They're the ones who convinced me to come to Yavin.”

“Well I'm glad someone was keeping an eye on you. Bodhi mentioned he, Chirrut, and Baze had all looked in on you,” Jyn replied. She ran her fingers along the curve of his cheek. “I'm willing to stop running and make a future here with you, Cassian.” She smiled. “The two of us to start with...maybe adopt like we talked about once you and I are settled in.”

“Jyn,” he sighed contently, nuzzling her neck. “Yes. I want that, only with you.” 

The nuzzles turned to nips a few minutes later, and she rolled him onto his back. “I bet Bodhi won't be stopping by tonight,” she almost pulled.

Cassian pulled her down to him, and their lips met again.


	5. Rolling On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A peak at Jyn and Cassian's life after their reunion, and another hint at their future, courtesy of Bodhi and his co-pilot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

She heard the door of the small shop open, a small break in the sound of pounding rain, and heard the measured steps from door to counter. A smile flickered over Jyn’s lips as she turned from the droid she’d been repairing and wiped grease from her hands. The droid had been non-functional since yesterday, and a few more hours wouldn’t hurt it, particularly since it’s owner wouldn’t be back into town until next week.

“Not spending another late night tending the bar?” she asked in a light tone as Cassian slipped behind the counter and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Amoda can handle the cantina until closing,” Cassian replied amiably. He smiled as Jyn leaned up for a kiss, savoring the feel of her lips against his own. “You almost done here?”

“Just have to close up,” Jyn replied. She glanced around the shop. It didn’t look like much, but her salvaging and repair business allowed them to afford some additional necessities for their home. Between Cassian managing the cantina for the owner and her work, they lived a comfortable life here on Yavin 4.

“You recall what day it is?” he asked softly, his dark chocolate eyes staring down into her green.

Jyn tilted her head, her mind for a moment in a space port on Bespin, then back on Yavin 4. “A year ago, I came home.”

Since the prison take over and the subsequent rescue and their reunion, Cassian and Jyn had worked hard to settle into a peacetime life. It wasn’t easy with for two people with enough baggage for a squad, but they managed. More than one night one of them would struggle with nightmares and wake up either shaking or screaming, only to be pulled into the comforting embrace of the other.

Posttraumatic stress and the weight of their sins weighed heavily on their hearts sometimes. Jyn was fairly certain by this point Cassian was what kept her sane, and he’d have said the same.

Jyn put her tools away and set the shop to rights before she closed up for the night. She grabbed the hand held canopy beside the door to shield Cassian and herself from the rain as they walked home. They saw a few others dashing back and forth in the streets of the town. It wasn’t a large settlement by most standards, but it was the only real settlement within vicinity of one of the three spaceports on Yavin 4. They got enough trade from the occasional off worlder and the ranchers and farmers who lived out in the wilds of Yavin to make it worth staying, but not enough to attract unnecessary attention from the Republic or the Senate.

Cassian’s expression remained thoughtful as they walked home and then slipped into their dwelling, shucking off soaked boots at the door. Jyn shook the canopy out and left it open by the door to dry as they wandered towards the kitchen.

“Even after a year, there are moments this doesn’t quite feel real yet,” Cassian remarked quietly as they set about making a quick meal of salad and bread. It was too hot outside for anything heavy. “Oh Yavin’s real enough, but you, being here…I sometimes wake up fearing it’s all a dream, then see you beside me.”

Jyn looked up from chopping vegetables and weighed his words before responding. “I agree,” she said. “A whole year in one place, not on the run, without the sound of blasters around us. I like it, but I feel wary sometimes that it will all vanish under our feet.” She smiled slightly then and leaned up to place a kiss on his cheek. “But as long as you are with me, I know I’ll be alright.”

He stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, half humming a Festian tune he’d learned as a child as he laid his chin on her head. She finished chopping the vegetables and set the knife aside before turning in his arms, wrapping her own arms around his neck. “What’s that song?” she asked.

Cassian paused a moment and looked sheepish for just a second. “An old children’s song. My mother used to sing it to me.” 

Jyn’s expression softened. “Think you can teach it to me?” she asked.

“I could, though we don’t have any children as of yet,” Cassian replied.

She nodded. “We talked about adopting perhaps…maybe it’s time?”

She would forever remember the warm look on his face and his smile. “We have been working on expanding the house, we’d have room.”

“Maybe Chirrut and Baze might have some ideas next time they visit,” Jyn said. Chirrut and Baze spent a fair amount of time with Luke Skywalker these days, and in their work with the Jedi they came across not just force sensitive children, but others as well.

“We can talk to them next time they’re here,” Cassian agreed. His gaze darkened then as he pulled her flush against his body. “For now though, I want to celebrate our reunion.”

~~

Even almost two years since the Civil War had ended, Bodhi could still see the effects of the fighting here in Coruscant. He wasn’t particularly fond of visiting the city-planet, but it meant good credits delivering shipments here, so occasionally he took them and dealt with the grumbling of his co-pilot and partner business partner.

He scanned the space port entrance and frowned, checking his chrono. Speaking of business partners, she should have been back by now. Bodhi muttered under his breath, hoping that Scorch hadn’t managed to get herself into another tussle. Under the right circumstances, the Zabrak could have a worse temper than he did.

He was about to raise her communicator when she saw her short, stocky figure coming towards him, with a small Mirialan child on her hip, and a slightly older human child clinging to her tunic.

Bodhi felt completely flummoxed. His partner was the last person he’d have associated with children. Yet here came her armor clad self (with armor that reminded him more of Mandalorians than anything else, he had to ask her about that someday), a blaster on one hip, who knew how many hidden vibro knives, and two clearly underfed and dirty children who were clinging to her like she was their salvation.  
What had she gotten herself into this time?

“Rook,” she greeted him when she and the kids reached him.

He tried to scowl at her, but he just ended up looking perplexed. “Vex, what in Force is this?”

Her expression was casual, but he could see the suppressed rage in her hazel eyes. “Someone was trying to sell Biva and Jaq. That person is dead now,” she said in her blunt way.

Rook saw the older human child flinch and lean further into Vexei’s leg. He winced internally. “Alright, but where do we take them from here? You and I aren’t exactly the parenting type.”

Vexei placed a gloved hand on the human boy’s head in a soothing gestured. “And we can’t leave them here. There are thousands of orphans on Coruscant, no one is going to want two more.” She looked down at the boy. “Jaq, this is my partner Bodhi Rook. He won’t hurt you,” she knelt next to the boy so she could look him in the eye, careful of the Mirialan girl clinging to her. “I promise he won’t hurt you. You got that?”

Jaq nodded slowly then looked warily at Bodhi, creeping out from behind Vexei. 

Bodhi couldn’t turn away from that look and knelt down to offer the boy a hand. “Vexei is right, I won’t hurt you,” he promised.

“Scorch,” Jaq corrected him. “Are you gonna take me somewhere safe?”

Bodhi arched a brow at Vexei but didn’t comment on the name. “We’ll find you somewhere safe.”

“This is Biva,” Vexei indicated the Mirialan. “Jaq here is almost 7. Biva’s two.”

Bodhi wracked his brain for a place to put the kids on the ship, knowing that there would be no talking Vexei out of this. 

“They can have my bunk,” Vexei supplied. 

It took a few hours to get the kids back onto the ship, fed, cleaned, and finally settled into Vexei’s bunk, with Jaq on the outside, leaning protectively against Biva.

Bodhi handed his partner a cup of caf as she wandered into the galley. “You’ve gotten us in over our heads again, haven’t you?” he asked, though his tone was light, almost affectionate.

“Maybe,” Vexei replied as she leaned against the counter. “But I couldn’t just leave them there.”

Bodhi sighed. “I suppose you couldn’t. But what do we do with them now? The _Oblivion_ really isn’t designed with kids in mind, Vex.”

“I was thinking we could call Cassian and Jyn, actually,” she replied, her chin tilting up in that stubborn stance of hers he’d grown used to over the past year.

When he’d first met Vexei Ly, or Scorch as she often preferred, she’d been a former Imperial POW. Rebel ground trooper, and bounty hunter. Somewhere between Cloud City and when he’d left Yavin after reuniting Jyn and Cassian, Bodhi had agreed to take the woman on as a partner in his shipping business. Han Solo had run a background check on her and confirmed her story, and Bodhi found he’d liked the Zabrak’s attitude and general demeanor from the first.

It had been a good business decision. The Zabrak was more aggressive than Bodhi himself, and willing to deal with those customers that were more likely to try and cheat them, with violence if necessary, and she had a good head for details. 

Bodhi paused at her suggestion. “Why?”

“Jyn said she and Cassian had talked about adopting war orphans, and they’ve mentioned it on visits,” Vexei said, crossing her arms over her chest. “So what better place for these two than with them? Jyn and Cassian know what its like to be orphans…if they agree to take Biva and Jaq on, those two would be in good hands.” She flashed him a grin. “Then you and I can be the uncle and aunt who spoil them whenever we visit.”

“You’re assuming our partnership will last that long,” Bodhi replied, but he smiled as he said it.

“You really think you’re going to get rid of me?” Vexei said slyly. “I’m tougher to get rid of than a Mynock.”

“Nah, I kind of like having you around,” Bodhi replied. He glanced back towards the bunks. “Well, lets get some sleep and we’ll call Jyn and Cassian in the morning.”

“Fair enough,” Vexei said. “I can stretch out in the cargo bay.”

For a very brief moment Bodhi found himself opening is mouth to offer to let her share his quarters, but managed to stop before he said anything. They were business partners, and definitely friends, but lovers they were not..

“See you in the morning,” he said instead, turning and heading for the captain’s quarters.


	6. New Pieces of the Puzzle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian welcome the kids into their home, and Bodhi is a little awkward. 
> 
> If there's anything in particular anyone wants to see in Jyn and Cassian, or one of the other character's lives, depending on the idea I can see about working it in.  
> See author notes at the end of the chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

Cassian let out a breath as the holocall ended and looked at his wife. Jyn glanced back at him, wide-eyed.

“Did we really just agree to take in two orphans?” she asked aloud. Her tone was torn somewhere between panic and awe.

“I believe we did,” Cassian replied, reaching out to take her hands in his. He ran his thumb along her palm in a soothing gesture. “We talked about it, I just expected it would be a few months after we made the final decision not..”

“Not a week or two,” Jyn was smirking now. “We weren’t expecting Bodhi and Vexei, of all people, to find orphans, nor were we expecting two of them.” She looked as if she was already growing used to the idea. “But we have the space, and from what Vexei said, Biva and Jaq are going to need a lot of love and reassurance.” 

Cassian nodded quietly, his eyes gone distant, and Jyn knew he was remembering his own past, when his parents had been killed, and the loneliness and terror he’d felt. She squeezed his hand, remembering her own childhood in Saw’s group.

It wasn’t something she’d ever wish on a child.

“At least we have a few days warning,” Cassian said at least. “Time to get beds and things together, clothing, more food, the like.”

“Toys,” Jyn said decisively. “I didn’t have toys in Saw’s camp…I want them to have toys.”

Cassian smiled and reached up to cup her cheek with his hand. “So do I, Mi Amor, so do I.”

There was also the fact that Cassian and Jyn both worked, and while they could take a few days off, eventually they’d have to find someone to keep an eye on the kids during the day. If it was just Jaq, Jyn might have taken him to the shop with her, but Biva was too young for that.

One of Jyn’s regular customers provided a solution for that. Cassian arranged to take several days off from the cantina, and Jyn could finish jobs and close up her shop for a bit. After that, the spouse of one of Jyn’s regulars actually made a bit of credit by watching children out of their home during the day. Cassian and Jyn knew the couple relatively well, and after observing man herding a small gaggle of kids for an afternoon, and confirming he wouldn’t be overburdened by two more children, an arrangement was made. Once Jaq was comfortable he’d need to be enrolled in the local school anyway.

There was a slight delay in Bodhi and Vexei’s arrival, due to, as Bodhi explained, acquiring items Vexei insisted the two kids needed before they even hit Yavin (Cassian didn’t ask too much, Bodhi already looked flustered). A week and a half later, though, the _Oblivion_ landed at the space port outside of town and Jyn and Cassian were there to meet it.

Bodhi came first, looking almost comical leading a wary six year old off the ship. When he reached Cassian and Jyn, the boy froze for a moment and gripped Bodhi’s hand even tighter.

“Hey now, Jaq, it’s alright,” a surprisingly soothing voice emanated from the Zabrak strolling down the ramp to the cargo bay with a Mirialan toddler in her arms. “These are the friends Bodhi and I told you about, Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso-Andor. You’re safe here, they’re going to take care of you.”

Jaq peered out from behind Bodhi, then slowly crept out, moving towards Jyn first. Jyn and Cassian both knelt down so that they’d be at his level, and Jyn offered Jaq a hand.

“Hello Jaq,” she said softly. “I’m Jyn.”

After a moment’s indecision, Jaq accepted her hand, and carefully, Jyn enfolded him in a hug. She felt the boy trembling against her, and the wetness of tears against her neck.

“This is Biva,” Vexei said, handing the toddler off to Cassian. The little girl regarded Cassian with a similar wariness, but when he took her, she chewed on her thumb a moment before laying her head on his shoulder. 

Cassian exchanged a glance with Jyn and saw tears glistening in her eyes, as they were in his.

“Bodhi, why don’t you go on ahead with them to get the kids home,” Vexei suggested after a few minutes. “Catch up. I’ll set the ship to rights and bring the stuff we got to the house.”

Bodhi looked surprised a moment, then nodded. “Alright Vex. Don’t take too long.”

“I won’t, Flyboy,” she promised.

Cassian gave Bodhi a speculative glance as they walked out to the speeders. “You left her with the _Oblivion_ he mused.

“Mm, what? Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” Bodhi asked. He looked faintly confused.

“Before you brought Jyn back to Yavin, you wouldn’t ever leave your ship open with anyone,” Cassian replied. He watched Jyn and Jaq settle on to one speeder while he managed another with the toddler.

Bodhi shrugged. “She’s my partner, Cassian, why wouldn’t I trust her to set the ship to rights?”

Cassian lifted a brow but didn’t say anything else as he kicked the speeder into gear.

Piloting a speeder with a toddler was a bit more challenging than Cassian was used to, but he managed and they made it safely back to the house. Sometime during the right Jaq had evidently become more comfortable with Jyn, and he was speaking quietly to her as she lead him into the house, and back towards the bedroom that Cassian and Jyn had prepared for him.

The look on the boy’s face made Cassian’s heart ache, even with all he’d seen in his work with the Rebellion. Jaq clutched Jyn’s hand tightly in his own as he looked around the room, then stared up at Jyn and Cassian with wide eyes and a tear streaked face “This is mine?” he asked in a hesitant voice.

“Yes,” Jyn said, kneeling beside the boy. “This is your home now, and this is your room here, Jaq. Cassian and I are going to take care of you.”  
She seemed prepared for it when the boy threw himself into her arms and started crying. She soothed him until the crying stopped some minutes later. Biva was looked quietly at Jaq, though not fussing, her head tucked into Cassian’s neck. 

“Why don’t I…go make lunch while you all get settled,” Bodhi suggested after several minutes, and quietly saw himself out of the room and into the kitchen.

Jyn’s gaze met Cassian’s as she held Jaq’s hand and began leading him around the room to look at the few toys and other belongings they’d acquired over the past week.

Cassian smiled and rocked Biva in his arms. 

“Welcome home, Jaq and Biva,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note on the kids' behavior in this chapter - Biva and Jaq have been through a lot, from being saved from a frightening gate by a strange short woman with a blaster, to being taken off planet and promised a new home. They've both a bit overwhelmed, but clinging to the kindness that Bohdi, Vexei, Cassian, and Jyn offer them, because it's perhaps the first they've had in a long time. The adjustment for the new family isn't going to be easy, but it is a beginning.


	7. Uncles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children slowly settle in to their new family and Baze and Chirrut come for a visit. Baze surprises everyone.
> 
> Author's Warning: Jaq and Biva's experience was not pleasant before they were adopted and I've chosen to gloss over quite a bit, but it may still be a possible trigger for some.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucastArts

The first few months were an adjustment period for everyone: for Cassian and Jyn at having two small people now dependent on them; for Biva and Jaq at trying to process that the horrors they left behind were well and truly gone and their new family wasn’t going anywhere. Nightmares were common in the first several weeks, but they grew less frequent as months wore on. 

Jyn and Cassian both knew it might be quite awhile before they didn’t sometimes have nights where one or both children ended up in their bed, clutching at their new parents for dear life, needing hugs and whispered reassurances that all of this was real, and that they had a home and a family now.

There were still days, seven months in, that she or Cassian got a holo call at work to go and pick up one of the children either from the sitter or from school. It was a small community, and the cantina’s owner, Mev Harbra, an old man who refused to say where he’d originally come from, allowed Cassian the time he needed for his family, so long as Cassian guaranteed someone Mev trusted was left in charge. Cassian’s assistant manager, the Togruta Amoda was a Force-send some days. Jyn, being her own boss and manager, had it a bit easier, at least on slow days.

Jaq had proven to be incredibly protective of Biva. It had taken almost a month to get their full history from him. Jaq and Biva had originally lived together in a makeshift orphanage, and he’d taken to protecting her from some of the larger children who picked on her, both because of her size and age, and because she wasn’t human. 

Jyn remembered with a wince the night Jaq had woken up screaming and had finally broken down in her arms and told her that someone had come to the orphanage one day and taken a few of the orphans away, including Biva and himself. They’d been taken to a rundown apartment and over the next few days, the orphans had vanished. 

The rest of the story came in sobs, how someone had come to look them over, and then Vexei had been there, yelling at him and Biva to run to the back room. He’d heard yelling and screaming and held Biva tightly to him. Finally silence fell, and after long time he’d heard Vexei’s voice telling him it was safe to come out.

The Zabrak told him she was taking him and Biva to get food, and then somewhere safe. He tried to ignore the motionless forms on the ground around the woman. But something about the Zabrak felt safe, almost reminding him of his own mother before she’d died, so they’d gone with her.

Jyn wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the story from Vexei’s perspective or not.

Cassian had done a fair amount of searching records, with some help from old contacts, to get what information he could on Biva and Jaq, but with the state of the galaxy just after the war, it was difficult. The local medic was able to pinpoint the children’s ages, but neither child knew when they’d been born, when the subject of birthdays came up one day because a child in Jaq’s class was having a birthday party, and he wanted to go.

Cassian and Jyn both acknowledged Jaq seemed far too wise for his age when the boy suggested they celebrate the day they’d come to live with Jyn and Cassian as their birthdays.

Cassian privately promised Jyn that on the anniversary of that date, they’d make it the best birthday the kids could hope for.  
Cassian had also, through his contacts, secured legal documentation for the children, should anyone question, showing that Jyn and Cassian had adopted them, and that Biva and Jaq Andor had a family now.

Today though, seven months after the children had joined their family, they were preparing for a visit from Chirrut and Baze. Biva was trying to mimic Jyn’s motions as she swept the living room while Cassian stood in the kitchen, Jaq carefully balanced on a stool to help him, making meat pies and sweets for dinner that night.

Jyn glanced in the kitchen as she put the broom away, smiling at the sight of Cassian in an apron and Jaq in a too large one, carefully tied so as not to drag, covered in flower, Jaq giggling as Cassian helped him press shapes into cookie dough. Biva chose that moment to tug up Jyn’s shirt. She glanced down at her daughter. The chubby green face scrunched up a moment before she held her hands up.

“Up, Momma, Up!” Biva demanded.

Jyn laughed and swept the girl up into her arms, planting a kiss on her daughter’s cheek.

Jaq looked up from the cookies and gave his mother and sister a toothy grin. “Papa and I are making cookies, Bivy!”

“Cookie!” Biva reached towards her brother, wanting a sweet.

“No Biva,” Jaq giggled. “They aren’t ready yet.” 

“Here, Little Comet.” Jyn snagged a cinnamon roll left over from that morning and handed to the girl. Biva eyed it for a long moment before she accepted the roll and began nibbling on it.

Cassian caught her gaze as she shifted the toddler in her arms, and the smile on his face warmed her heart. This was their family, their children, and every moment, every sleepless night, was completely worth it.

A steady knock at the door caught their attention. Jyn put Biva down gently; the toddler evidently appeased for the moment with her roll, and went to see who it was. She peered through the window, and then yanked it open when she saw Chirrut and Baze on the other side.

Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus appeared much the same as they had the last time that Jyn had seen them, though she was certain she had a few gray hairs by now with kids running around. 

Chirrut seemed to pause a moment, and listened to the foot falls of Biva as the toddler came up behind Jyn and stared at the two men in the doorway. The blind man chuckled as he pulled Jyn into a quick hug. “You did tell us you had small ones in the house now,” he said as he turned his head in Biva’s direction. “Do you think they would mind if we came in?”

Baze snorted behind Chirrut.

Biva pushed passed Jyn into the doorway and stared up at the two men for a long moment, then looked up at Jyn with wide brown eyes. “Momma, friends? Friends from holo?”  
Jyn felt tension she wasn’t aware of drain from her shoulders at her daughter’s reaction to their friends. “Yes, Biva. These are our friends from the holo calls. Can they come in.”

“Kay,” Biva replied. She shifted a bit to the side, but still stared up at the two men as they stepped into the living room. 

By now Cassian and Jaq had come in from the kitchen. Cassian moved forward and greeted Chirrut and Baze with a firm hand clasp as Jaq eyed them warily for a long moment before following his father further into the living room. He offered a hand, the way that Jyn and Cassian had taught him months ago and said in a very serious tone. “I’m Jaq Andor. Who are you?”

Chirrut’s own expression turned serious and he levered himself down using his staff until he knelt at Jaq’s level. “Hello, Jaq Andor. I am Chirrut Îmwe, and that one there,” he gestured back in the general direction of Baze, “is my spouse Baze Malbus.”

Jaq’s gaze floated over Chirrut’s shoulder to look at the giant in armor with the messy long hair and bearded face. His gaze seemed solemn. Then Biva suddenly appeared at Baze’s feet and stared up at the large man.

“Armor?” she asked, pointing to his leg plates. She looked back at Jaq. “Armor like Aunt Vex!” Her eyes went wide then and she looked at Baze. “You’re soldier, like Aunt Vex?”

Baze surprised everyone but Chirrut when he knelt slowly beside the toddler and offered her one large hand. “Yes, little Biva. I was a soldier, like your Aunt Vex.”

“Have you met Vexei?” Jyn asked, arching her brows.

Baze shrugged as he held his arms out to Biva, and the toddler surprisingly went into them, squealing in delight as the large man picked her up. “Bodhi’s Vex? Yes, we’ve met her. She’s got that pilot all tied up in knots. He should just say something to her.”

“He won’t,” Chirrut piped in. “Vexei Ly. Something makes that one hold herself back, and so Bodhi hesitates. But they will work something about, in time. But time is what they need.”

“Cookies, Uncle Baze!” Biva declared as she tugged on the giant’s hair. The gentle look and patience the man gave the little girl made Jyn and Cassian exchange a glance.

“Don’t mind Baze,” Chirrut said gaily. “He was good with the young ones at the temple.”

“Vex warned us what these two have been through,” Baze told the parents. “We know to be gentle.” He chuckled. “Though the looks on your faces, as if you expected me to scare them?”

“We weren’t really sure,” Jyn said softly. “It’s been a bit of an adjustment.”

Baze chuckled again. “I’ll bet, for all of you.” He grinned at Biva. “I think your Papa and brother still need to bake the cookies, little Biva. Why don’t you go get your toys to show us while they bake?” He set the toddler down at the suggestion. She promptly dropped her half eaten cinnamon roll and scurried towards her room.

“Well,” Cassian said in a light tone. “This should be an interesting visit.”


	8. Planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vexei plans a surprise for the crew of Rogue One, and then she and Bodhi plan a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

Bodhi Rook eyed the spaceport with thinly disguised apprehension as his partner secured a second blaster pistol at her hip and checked the seals on her armor.

“Are you absolutely certain this is necessary?” he asked for the third time that morning.

They were on Belladoon, one of the last worlds that had been held by the Empire before the Galactic Civil War had ended. Bodhi hadn’t been thrilled about the idea of even landing here, but Vexei insisted they needed to pick something up from the planet.

“I’m not any more fond of this place than you are, Flyboy, but we need to be here, trust me. I’ll only be gone an hour or two, then we’ll have our cargo and we can fly out.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Nothing illegal?”

“Not illegal now,” she hedged. “It was before the war ended, but you’ll be glad we stopped here. Trust me,” she repeated.

Kriff but he had a hard time refusing her anything.

“Just…promise me you’ll be careful,” he said at last. 

She tilted her head to one side. “I will be, Bodhi, I promise. Stay here with the ship though, alright?”

“Two hours, Vex. I’m coming looking for you if you aren’t back by then.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but Bodhi made himself turn and go back onto the ship.

Vexei sighed to herself and left the spaceport to meet with her contact. 

Bodhi went to work repairing an internal panel in the cockpit once she was gone, his mind turning over the events of the night before. He’d been having nightmares again recently, and last night had been a particularly bad one. 

Bad enough that it had woken Vexei in the crew quarters. She’d been there, leaning over his bed, shaking him awake, as he screamed at memories of Scarif.

When he’d finally woken up and realized he wasn’t alone in his quarters, he’d turned his face towards the wall, not wanting her to see him like this. But she’d pulled him to a sitting position and put an arm around his shoulders anyway.

“Scarif?” she’d asked in a quiet tone.

“Yeah,” he admitted softly. “Tonight isn’t a good night.”

“Dreams never really go away,” she said in her usual blunt way, “but they get further apart, as time goes on. Usually helps if you find something that sooths you, calms you.”

Her presence there, sitting on the edge of his bed, calmed him. Her arm around his shoulder, thigh pressed against his own; a friend he knew he could trust, even as he moved on with his life after the war, just as Jyn and Cassian, and Baze and Chirrut, moved on with their own lives.

He knew she had nightmares too, though she never told him from what.

“You sooth me,” he found himself saying in the quiet dark. 

He’d felt her stiffen a moment, then slowly force herself to relax again. “They didn’t just call me Scorch because I knew how to set things on fire, Bodhi Rook. I tend to leave nothing but ash in my wake.”

“You haven’t burned me to ash yet,” he replied, turning his eyes to meet hers.

They’d been flying together for over a year and a half now, had each other’s backs in a hundred or more deadly situations, but he’d always known she’d be there.

“Yet is the operative word,” she replied harshly. She shifted beside him. “You…should get back to sleep. Tomorrow’s a long day, Bodhi.”

“Don’t know if I’ll be able to,” he replied, his brown eyes searching her hazel.

She hesitated for a moment before she said. “Want me to stay?”

“Yes.”

So she’d lain down beside him, not actually touching him, but he could sense her presence there, and he’d been able to fall back asleep again. He woke up alone the next morning, but he saw the indentation from her head on the pillow next to him, and found her in the galley, making breakfast.

He checked his chrono several times while she was gone, and was checking the draw of the blaster pistol at his side when he heard her outside the ship.

“Bodhi, you’re gonna love this,” she called from outside the cargo ramp.

He hurried out of the ship, and found her standing alone beside a long, narrow box, taller than a man, but about the width of a casket. 

“It’s not a body, is it?” he asked warily, knowing she used to be a bounty hunter, but her eyes were dancing with delight, and he decided he liked that look.

“No not a body,” she laughed. “Come on, let’s get it back on ship and get out of here. We’ll open it once we’re in hyperspace.”

He was surprised at how easy it was to get the box on board, and for her to give the necessarily clearance codes for them to take off. As they lifted off he glanced at her. “So where are we delivering this thing.”

Vexei looked positively gleeful. “Yavin 4.”  
~~

Cassian was fixing dinner when the holo call came through. He recognized the code and opened the channel, lifting a brow when Bodhi appeared. “Yes Bodhi?”

Baze looked up from the living room where he sat on the floor with Jaq and Biva. Biva was sitting in his lap, dancing her stuffed akk dog on his leg. Baze held the wing of a model X-wing he was putting together with Jaq. Chirrut had accompanied Jyn to her shop and they weren’t expected back for another hour or two.

“Vexei and I thought we might pay you a visit,” Bodhi greeted him jovially. The pilot was grinning from ear to ear, with a quality that immediately made Cassian suspicious. 

“Thought your shipments took you to the other side of the galaxy this time of year,” Cassian replied lightly.

“Nah, Vexei got us a shipment that needs to go to Yavin, so we thought we might visit if you’ll have us,” Bodhi replied. He swatted a gloved hand away. “No, Vex, I haven’t told them, yes it’ll be a surprise,” he murmured.

Cassian and Baze both lifted their eyebrows. “Bodhi, you bringing that co-pilot of yours with you,” Baze called from the living room.

“Yeah, Vexei’ll be with me,” Bodhi promised. “We’ll arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

Cassian shook his head lightly. “Alright, Bodhi. I know you’re hiding something, but I suppose that I’ll have to wait until you get here. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“It’s good, I promise, Vexei’s voice called from the side. “See you tomorrow!”

The holo call winked out and Cassian glanced at Baze. “Any idea what that’s all about?”

Baze shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Uncle Baze!” Jaq’s voice broke the conversation, and brought Baze’s attention back to helping the boy fit the wing onto the model.

“I suppose we’ll find out,” Cassian murmured under his breath as he went back to cooking dinner.


	9. Baited Breath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn reflects on parenting, Chirrut trains Jaq, and Bodhi and Vexei arrive with their cargo (and several readers suspicions are confirmed).  
> I am completely taken with the idea of Baze as a gentle giant around kids, so prepare to see a fair amount of it.  
> I am tempted to do a couple one shots of Bodhi and Vexei's adventures as freight haulers, though haven't quite decided yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

Jyn stood with her arms over her chest, leaning against the outside wall of their home as she watched Chirrut and Jaq in the front yard. Chirrut stood behind Jaq, his hands on either side of the boy’s as they held a staff together, and Chirrut guided Jaq slowly through the movements of staff combat.

Some part of her heart hurt, seeing as her son was not quite seven and was already learning a combat form, but Yavin 4 did have some dangerous wildlife, and it was better for him to learn self defense young. Jyn herself had already begun teaching him how to use a baton, and Cassian ran him through the motions of bladework with wooden daggers that he’d carved for the purpose.

On Bodhi and Vexei’s last visit, Vex had commented that it would be impossible for any child of Jyn and Cassian’s to not learn some form of combat. The ability, the need to be able to fight, was far too ingrained in Cassian and Jyn themselves. In the next breath, Vex had offered, in her blunt way, to teach him how to use a blaster.

Jyn recalled her quick decline, thinking that Jaq wasn’t old enough to use blasters yet, though she and Cassian would have to teach him when he got older, and Vexei had met her with a steady gaze and informed her that where Vex came from, children started learning how to shoot a blaster by the time they were four.

“Most people aren’t raised by Mandalorians,” Jyn hissed softly under her breath, finally voicing a suspicion she’d had since she’d met Scorch.

Vexei had continued to meet her with that same steady gaze. “No,” she said calmly. “Most people aren’t. “

The conversation had died quickly after that.

Jyn sighed and rubbed her forehead at the memory. Vexei had been a good ally in the Imperial prison, and since they’d gained their freedom she’d been a good friend to all of Rogue One. She just had some interesting ideas on child rearing given her background. Jyn couldn’t deny that she was good with children, and it made her wonder sometimes.

“Ah, young Jaq, you are focusing too much on trying to put power behind the hit,” Chirrut corrected Jaq. “That will come with time. First you must learn the motions, and practice them until your body remembers the movements in your sleep.”

Chirrut took his staff from Jaq. “Get your practice staff, I will show you.”

“Or you’ll give him bruises,” Baze said from the sidelines where he sat on a bench with Biva. 

“But bruises teach us lessons,” Chirrut replied calmly. He turned his head, sensing Jaq approaching again. “Very well, Jaq, attack me.”

Jaq rushed forward, bringing his staff up to try and hit Chirrut’s shoulder, a move Chirrut easily blocked.

“This is practice, Jaq, allow yourself to take the time to learn the movements first, before you attack so fiercely,” Chirrut corrected gently. “Later, when you have practiced more, we will blindfold you, and you will learn to trust senses other than just your eyes, for eyes can lie to you.”  
Jyn smiled at the look of concentration on Jaq’s face as he absorbed the lesson from Chirrut. Jaq seemed to love these lessons with the old guardian, and she’d seen him listen intently whenever Chirrut provided some old story or word of wisdom to the young boy. 

Her fingers curled around the kyber crystal she wore around her neck, thinking.

An hour later, Chirrut called for an end to the current lesson and told Jaq to walk around the yard until he was cool then go and get something to eat and drink from his father. Jaq complied with a smile, an expression far more common now than when he and Biva had first arrived.

Chirrut watched Jaq walk around the yard and then head back inside before he approached Jyn. She felt her shoulder tense a moment, opening her mouth to speak, but Chirrut already guessed her words.

“Yes, Jyn, he is force sensitive. Not enough to make a Jedi, but the Force may guide him from time to time,” Chirrut told her. “We will watch him, and I will teach him what I can, but I do not believe you will need to send him to Luke Skywalker for training.”

Jyn relaxed only slightly and nodded. “We had wondered. But he and Biva have had enough to adjust to here, I didn’t want to send him away, anywhere.”

Chirrut smiled at her. “This is his home, Jyn, with you, and Cassian, and Biva. He loves you and Cassian and his parents, and he is protective of his little sister. He trusts you. He trusts Rogue One. Keeping him here is in his best interest, and yours.”

Jyn smiled her thanks before she crossed the yard to take her daughter from Baze. The warrior was flying Biva around like an X-wing, holding her high in the air, complete with ship noises. The sight would have surprised her when Chirrut and Baze first arrived to meet the children, but after a week she was used to seeing Baze playing with the children or spoiling them. The man was truly a gentle giant when it came to kids. Even Poe Dameron, when the Dameron’s had visited from their ranch a few days ago, had warmed instantly to him.

Biva blew raspberries at her as Jyn settled the toddler on her hip. Jyn kissed Biva’s forehead and laughed. “Good thing you are so adorable, Little Comet,” she told her daughter.

She was half way to the front door with Biva when she saw two speeders pull up, a large box somehow secured between the two of them. She instantly recognized both figured and lifted her eyebrows, pausing mid step to turn towards them.

Biva squealed when she saw the two riders dismount and approach. “Uncle Bodhi! Aunt Vex!”

Bodhi was grinning as he approached and enveloped both Jyn and Biva in a hug. “Hello to you too Biva. Hey Jyn.” He gave Jyn a brotherly kiss on the cheek. 

“Cassian said you two would be arriving today,” Jyn replied, her eyes glancing back towards the box, and then Vexei. “Did you find it?”

“Hold up, you knew?” Bodhi asked, staring at Jyn a moment before shooting a faint glare towards Vexei.

“Jyn’s the one who asked me to find it, Bodhi,” the Zabrak replied, putting a soothing hand on his shoulder. 

“Tell me these things next time before we land on a former Imperial planet,” Bodhi muttered at her.

“Sorry, _cyar'ika_ ,” Vexei murmured in response.

From the side of the yard, Baze’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully at the word, though he didn’t say anything. Jyn admitted she was curious as to the meaning. 

Bodhi’s gaze softened a bit and he smiled at Vexei before turning back to Jyn. “Regardless, where do you want it?”

“Can you bring it into the living room?” Jyn asked, excitement creeping into her voice.

“What is it?” Chirrut asked curiously as he approached.

“Something that’ll make Cassian’s day,” Bodhi replied, still grinning.

It took several minutes, and a bit of help from Baze, but they got the long box into the living room. Cassian was standing at the counter beside his son as Jaq ate a sandwich and eyed the box warily.

“What,” he asked, “Is that?”

Vexei exchanged a glance with Bodhi and Jyn and pulled a tool from somewhere at her hip and began carefully undoing the seals on the box as Bodhi answered Cassian’s question. “You still have K2’s backup disks, right?”

Jyn could read Cassian’s shock in his gaze, though not his expression or body language. He hurried back into their bedroom, returning a minute later with a small disk. “I still have it, but we’ve never managed to find a droid that would accept it, and KX models were harder to come by.”

“Evidently not if you go to Belladoon,” Bodhi replied, casting an affectionate glance towards Vexei as she finished unsealing the box. The two of them carefully removed the cover, revealing a somewhat beaten up KX droid.

“How?” Cassian asked, his fingers curling around the disk.

“Papa, what is it Papa?” Jaq slipped off his stool and came up beside Cassian, taking his father’s hand. He regarded the droid in the box seriously. “Do we have a droid now Papa?”

“You will, Jaq,” Vexei replied with absolute certainty that even Cassian found himself believing her.

Cassian and Bodhi maneuvered the KX model out of the box and into a standing position while Jyn watched on the couch with Biva, keeping the toddler occupied from the droid with a stuffed X-Wing the Damerons had given her. Baze sat next to Jyn on the couch, and Chirrut sat cross-legged in one corner, his expression serene as they waited.

Everyone held their breath as Cassian inserted the disks into the KX model. They heard a soft whirring noise as the lights of the droid’s eyes lit up.

Several excruciating minutes later, an indignant voice emerged from the droid. 

“Cassian? What has happened? I conclude this is not my original platform. And are those children?”

Cassian grinned in relief. “Welcome back, K-2SO.”


	10. Home life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short, fluffly chapter of Jyn and Cassian at home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

“Cassian, why is this tiny human trying to climb me?” K2's metallic voice sounded in the living room. Jyn hid a smile as she leaned over the table with her son, helping Jaq with his homework.

“You're a smart droid,” Cassian replied with barely suppressed mirth. “Why don't you tell me?”

“I have observed that Biva likes climbing on things, including me, creating an 73% chance that she will fall at some point in her exploration,” K2 replied. “Cassian, please remove this tiny human from my leg.”

Cassian chuckled and picked Biva up from where she was trying to scale K2's leg. 

“Neither you nor Jyn has produced your own human young, but you have brought these two into your family unit,” K2 mused as he watched Cassian move across the room with the toddler. “I predict in the future a 46% chance that you and Jyn shall either produce your own human young, or chose to bring more orphaned young into your home.”

Cassian froze mid step, his gaze meeting Jyn's wide eyes.

Jaq looked up from his data pad and watched K2, and then his parents. “Is Kay right, Momma?” he asked Jyn. “Will you and Papa give Biva and I another sibling?”

The children had lived with them for almost a year and a half now. Biva would be starting school in another half year and was three and a half by their accounting. Jaq was seven going on eight, and very interested suddenly in the idea of family and siblings since he'd spent the night at a classmate's home who had three older siblings.

“Perhaps someday,” Jyn said with a faint smile, ruffling Jaq's dark hair. “But not right now.”

Late that night, when the children were asleep and Jyn sat in the crook of Cassian's arm on the couch, he glanced down at her. “Do you want more children?” he asked, his tone both curious and cautious.

Jyn tilted her head to meet his gaze, looking more thoughtful that he expected. “Maybe? I don't know...Biva and Jaq are a handful, though I can't say that I'd mind one of our own as well...no more than one more though. We have enough on our hands with work, Biva, Jaq, and everything else.”

Cassian smiled and leaned forward to brush his lips against her own. “I agree. Enough if we don't have any more children, or adopt anymore, Biva and Jaq are treasures.” 

“That day on the beach, on Scarif,” she said as she leaned into him, letting her forehead drop to his neck. “I never thought any of this would be a possibility.” Scarif seemed so far away at times, but nights, it still haunted both their dreams at times. 

Vexei once told Jyn that the dreams never went away, but they did grow less frequent.

She'd seen that with their children's nightmares. There were less nights now when one or both children crawled into bed with them, less nights that they were woken up by screaming or broken sobs of their children.

His arms tightened around her at mention of Scarif, recalling two nights before when she'd woken up, shaking in memory, and clung to him in the early hours of the morning. He'd slowly soothed the fears away with caresses and the press of his body against her own, reminding her that she wasn't alone. He had come back for her.

“Scarif will always be there, in our nightmares,” Cassian said softly. “But the waking hours are much more pleasant now, I would say.”

Jyn smirked against his neck. “Usually. Last month when both kids were sick though?”

Cassian laughed softly. “Even then, when our children puked on ever clean shirt we both had.” He lifted her chin so he could look into those beautiful green eyes and ran his thumb along her jawline. “You've made it worth the while, every moment since Scarif..since Jedha.” He smiled. “And now you and our children are my whole world, Jyn. Back before I met you, during the war, I didn't think I could have a future like this.”

“There is a 94% chance that you and Jyn will copulate tonight,” K2's voice came from the doorway.

Jyn nearly jumped out of Cassian's arms and then laughed as she settled back into her husband's arms. “How long have you been standing there, K2?” she asked.

“Long enough,” K2 sighed. “Cassian, perhaps you and Jyn should retire to your private quarters?”

Cassian chuckled and pushed himself to his feet and then offered Jyn a hand. “Perhaps Kay is right.”

“94% chance you said, Kay?” Jyn asked in an amused tone. “What's the chance of the kids waking up?”

“There is 27% chance that Biva or Jaq will awaken between midnight and dawn,” K2 replied. “If you and Cassian wish to have sexual intercourse,” the droid paused. “I will not continue with this line, I do not wish to know any more about your human activities.”

Jyn let Cassian tug her back into their bedroom and shut the door firmly behind them.


	11. Additions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another fluff chapter with Jyn, Cassian, and Kids, and a bit of news for the family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

Jyn and Jaq leaned over the tree-cutter as Jyn carefully snipped off the old, faulty wire. Jaq'e eyes were intent behind the pair of slightly over sized goggles he wore as protection as Jyn soldered a new wire into place. She made a few minor adjustments and then shut the panel on the tool. She and Jaq shared a grin as they removed their goggles.

“Good as new, Momma?” he asked.

“More or less, little love,” Jyn replied, ruffling his dark hair. 

“Can I try?” he asked, his eyes wide and curious.

Jyn tilted her head thoughtfully. “How about this, I'll go through the shop and find some of the older parts that you can practice on and I'll teach you on those? For now though, we need to clean up and go pick up your sister.”

Jaq nodded his assent and he hopped off his stool to help Jyn put her tools away. 

Jyn loved moments like this, with Jaq watching her in her shop, and tinkering when she'd allow him. Even at seven he was showing quite an aptitude with electronics, just as he'd picked up the staff easy from his lessons with Chirrut, lessons that Jyn had continued whenever Chirrut and Baze weren't visiting, though she'd never be quite as good as Chirrut.

With each visit, Chirrut could sense her anxiousness, and with each visit, he assured her that Jaq wasn't force sensitive enough to warrant Jedi training.

She was feeling slightly less anxious since Luke Skywalker himself had made a very short appearance last month, just for a day or two, and told her that while he would be honored to train Jaq, if the boy felt safer here, there was no reason to take him away from his family.

That visit had been an amusing one. Luke was famous among a few of the former Rebellion soldiers that had settled here on Yavin 4. The Damerons had come into town from their ranch, bringing little Poe with them. Poe and Jaq weren't that far off in age, and the boys had chased each other around the yard playing “X-Wing,” then later demanded that their fathers lift them up and fly them around. Biva of course had wanted to join in after that.

She and Jaq walked along the quiet town street towards the home of a young woman who watched children during the day in exchange for credits. Beginning in another month or so, Biva would only spend half a day with her during the week, when school was in session. There were some days when the Jaq wasn't in school and both Jyn and Cassian had to work that she watched both children, but Jaq had wanted to come to the shop with Jyn today, and she'd seen no reason to deny him.

Once they'd picked Biva up, the three walked home under deep gray skies. Living in such a humid and warm environment, rain seemed a more or less constant threat, but it was something they'd grown used to over the years.

As they stepped into the living room, Jyn glanced about, thinking it might be time to add another room. The children each had their own room, and they had two guest rooms for when Baze and Chirrut, Bodhi and Vexei all came to visit at once, but if they were going to have a third child, they'd need another room.  
Then again, Chirrut and Baze had talked on their last visit of retiring to Yavin 4. Both men were getting older, and while Chirrut certainly enjoyed working with Luke Skywalker and telling the man what he could of the Jedi, the men had a closer friendship with the other members of Rogue One.

The thought made a smile flicker over Jyn's lips as she settled Biva and Jaq in the living room with a children's holovid and a few toys before going into the kitchen to start dinner. She'd lost so much to the Imperials, but through Rogue One, she'd gained a new family.

She'd never been fanatic cook, too much of her childhood spent living on ration bars or stolen food, but Cassian had managed to teach her to cook a few dishes that she didn't burn. Cassian would be working late at the cantina, so it was just the three of them for the evening.

They spent the evening watching holovids on the couch, with Biva tucked into one side of Jyn and Jaq on the other. Biva fell asleep with her head on Jyn's thigh, and Jaq was yawning by the time the last movie. She smiled and picked up Biva, carrying her into her room with Jaq at her heels. Jyn lay Biva gently in her bed and covered her up, placing a gentle kiss on the girl's forehead (with Jaq mimicking the motion), before she lead her son to his room and tucked him in for the night.

She let the quiet of the Yavin 4 night surround her as she wandered back into the kitchen to clean up. She could vaguely remember helping her mother clean up after dinner some nights, or her father reading to her on the couch.

In their case, they weren't hiding from the Empire, and they were living in a community that would help defend them if anyone attacked. It helped ease some of the anxiety she felt when she woke up in the middle of the night, remembering the day her mother was killed.

She hoped her children would never know a sight like that.

Jyn forced herself to breath and went through the motions of cleaning the dishes. She was standing over the sink, rinsing the last dish when she felt her stomach roil against dinner and turned, just barely making it to the waste basket in time before her stomach emptied its contents.

Jyn scowled down at her lost dinner, wondering if she was getting ill with some bug or another. She'd been injured a thousand times in her life, and malnourished, but rarely actually sick with Yavin flu or anything of the like.

“Jyn, are you alright?” Cassian's voice drifted in and she looked up to see him standing at the doorway of the kitchen, concern in his eyes as he saw her standing over the waste basket.

“My stomach rebelled against me,” she complained to him as he crossed to her and wrapped an arm around her waist.

He was rubbing patterns on her back when she felt him freeze momentarily, his eyes going wide a moment. “Jyn, when was the last time you...?”

She frowned. “It was always erratic growing up, more regular since joining the Rebellion, but..”

They both rushed to the refresher and Jyn dug under the counter for tests they'd put aside months ago.

Five minutes later, they were staring at the results, and then each other. Cassian let out a soft whoop of joy and pulled Jyn into his arms, swinging her around in the hall.

She laughingly put a hand on his shoulder. “Careful, Love, I don't want to lose the rest of my dinner.”

Cassian stopped twirling her immediately and set her on the ground, but he was still grinning. “Jyn..”

“Guess we'll need to add that extra bedroom sooner than later?” she asked, her eyes dancing.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her soundly.


	12. What Family Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian prepare for the future, and Bodhi and Vexei come for a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

Life rolled on in the Erso-Andor household. Biva and Jaq went to school and spent the evenings filling their parents ears with tales of their day. Jaq trained regularly with Chirrut now that the old guardians had retired to Yavin 4, learning to trust both himself and what Force sense he had.

Biva made new friends and demanded Baze hold tea parties with her. The sight of the giant guardian sitting in the Erso-Andor living room, delicately holding a cup in his large hands, with the green skinned girl sitting across from him and carrying on a very serious conversation between him and her stuffed animals amused everyone.

Biva and Jaq couldn’t ask for better uncles than Baze and Chirrut. When other children in school talked about grandparents and extended family, Biva and Jaq would tell everyone about Baze and Chirrut, and occasionally Bodhi and Vexei.

Rogue One didn’t just mean comrades-in-arms or survival, it meant family.

When Jyn and Cassian announced her pregnancy to the children, the children’s first reaction was excitement. They wanted a little brother or sister to look after and play with. Sometimes though, in the dark of night when the children still had occasional nightmares, the fear of being replaced or pushed aside emerged.

Jyn and Cassian made sure to reassure both children regularly that the new baby wouldn’t be replacing them. They were a family, and Jyn and Cassian would always be Biva and Jaq’s parents. They were the Andors, bound by love.

It seemed to fade after the first month or so, but Jyn and Cassian remained careful to show the children they loved them no less as they prepared for the new baby.

They’d eventually decided that one of the guest rooms would become the new nursery, particularly since Chirrut and Baze now lived in Yavin 4. They would add on to the house eventually, but that might end up occurring after the baby was born.

They picked out a soothing gray color for the walls, a contrast to the bright blue Biva insisted on in her room, and the yellow Jaq had wanted. Biva and Jaq had their own ideas of how they should decorate the room. Jaq wanted X-Wings, Biva wanted akk dogs. 

When Bodhi had put in a holocall to Cassian asking if he and Vexei could stay with them for awhile, Jyn had looked forward to seeing their friends, though she wasn’t quite sure how Bodhi considered a house with two children and another one on the way “quiet.” Chirrut and Baze had “retired” to Yavin 4 only weeks before, so it would be a reunion of the Rogue One crew and their families.

None of them had ever expected to make it off Scariff. To be celebrating a happy reunion nine years later provided that, as Chirrut would say, the Force worked in mysterious ways.

The children were at school and Cassian was working the afternoon and evening shift at the cantina. Chirrut and Baze insisted they would pick the children up from school that afternoon, which left Jyn working in her shop when the rest of the Rogue One family arrived on Yavin 4.

She glanced up as she heard a speeder draw up outside the shop through the windows. It was too hot and humid on Yavin 4 to leave the windows closed on a day like this. She heard two familiar voices murmuring outside, before Bodhi stepped into the shop, dressed in a gray shipsuit and boots, blaster at one hip, and his familiar goggles perched atop his dark hair.

“Bodhi!” Jyn let out a whoop and grinned, vaulting over the counter, she wouldn’t be able to do that for too much longer, and gave her friend a tight hug. “How are you?” she drew back a moment and met his brown gaze. “Cassian said you and Vex had a couple of rough runs recently.”

A momentary grimace flickered over Bodhi’s face and he glanced over his shoulder where Vexei was stepping into the shop. “Rough is one way of putting it.” He managed a lopsided smile. “Sorry, Jyn. It’s great to see you again, and” he arched his brows. “Adding to your family? Cassian didn’t mention that one.”

“He’s a former spy, and more paranoid than the two of us put together, _cyar'ika_. do you really think he’d mention that over a holocall?” Vexei asked from the doorway. “Jyn, it’s good to see you again.” The former bounty hunter grinned at Jyn. 

Jyn turned to look at her friend, and her eyes went wide in mild horror as she realized the sleeve of Vexei’s own jumpsuit was tied off just below the elbow of her left arm, where her lower arm should have been. “Vex?”

“Like Bodhi said, rough is one way of putting it,” Vexei replied, her smile slipping for just a moment. She shook her head and stepped up to give Jyn a one-armed hug. “Something to adapt to. We ran into former Imperials and it got ugly. We’ll cover the rest tonight with everyone.” She shook her head. “I’d rather not tell the story more than once.”

Bodhi reached out and squeezed Vexei’s right hand. “I’d rather not either.”

Jyn could see some of the old anxiousness in his eyes as he spoke, his body standing almost protectively over Vexei’s. The former bounty hunter shot the pilot a tolerant smile. She regarded Vexei’s stump for a hard moment, then her gaze flickered to the materials around her shop.

“Have you been fitted for a prosthetic yet?” Jyn asked.

Vexei shook her head. “I looked, briefly, on Dantooine, but once the hospital released me, neither of us were particularly keen on remaining there any longer than we had to. Why?”

It would be a challenge, Jyn hadn’t actually ever built a hand, but she’d built and repaired a lot of other things. “I might be able to make you one.”

A slow tension leaked out of Vexei. “I would appreciate it if you could.” 

Ah, Jyn thought to herself. She knew how precise Vexei could be, and that what they could find on Dantooine probably didn’t fit what Vexei needed, and Vexei had been too proud to ask.

“I’d be honored,” Jyn replied firmly. 

Vexei ‘s eyes shifted to the slight swell of Jyn’s abdomen then and she smiled, though Jyn detected a hint of old sorrow in the Zabrak’s eyes. “Congratulations to you and Cassian.”

Bodhi squeezed Vexei’s shoulder, offering a silent comfort, and Jyn remembered what Cassian had told her, well over a year ago, about Vexei’s lost family.

The sorrow in the Zabrak’s eyes faded after a moment, though, and she looked genuinely happy for Jyn. “This new one, and Biva and Jaq, can’t ask for better parents than you and Cassian.”

“I just want them to have the childhood I never had,” Jyn replied.

“They will, Jyn, believe me they will,” Vexei replied.


	13. More Than Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author's Warning: This chapter deals with childhood bullying and xenophobia. The Star Wars world has a number of humans, but also a vast number of 'alien' races. These are, sadly, subjects I think Biva would realistically deal with in school.
> 
> More fluff next chapter, I promise.  
> Mando'a taken from Wookiepedia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/Lucas Arts

Biva Andor loved her family, and knew they loved her. From her Momma and Papa, to her brother Jaq, and her uncles and aunt, every one was forthcoming with affection. With her Momma expecting a new baby, her Momma and Papa reminded her and Jaq regularly that they loved them and that they would always be their children.

She had few memories of the time Before. Jaq remembered Before, and he would tell her quietly about it sometimes, how alone they were, except for perhaps each other, without parents. Then Aunt Vex came in like an avenging Jedi and saved them and she and Uncle Bodhi brought them to Momma and Papa.

Biva loved her Momma’s tinkering with tools and toys. Momma once took one of Jaq’s X-Wing models and added a small power pack and made it fly. It was still Jaq’s favorite toy. There were the small krayt dragon toys Momma had made for Biva out of scrap that could scurry across the floor of her room or their living room.

And no matter how busy Momma and Papa got, they always took time for Biva and Jaq when they needed something. Even if it was just a quick hug and peck on the cheek, or ruffling their dark hair, Papa and Momma were always there for them.

Before she had started school, Biva never paid attention to the fact that she looked different from her family or most of her friends. Sure she was green, but her hair was dark like her brothers, and so were her eyes. The first time one of her classmates pointed it out, she asked her teacher what she was.

The word “Mirialan” didn’t mean much to a girl of almost five at first, but as the weeks went on, it gave her a touchstone whenever one if the other children would point out that she was different. Most of the time, they just did it because they were curious. They wanted to know where she came from, why was her skin green instead of like theirs? 

Most of the kids were just happy to have another class mate to play with. Biva loved playing Pathfinders at recess. Her Momma had been a Pathfinder and she wanted to be just like Momma. Jaq wanted to be an X-Wing pilot like Uncle Bodhi.

Sometimes, though, one of the other kids would say something mean to her, and indicate that she wasn’t really one of them because she wasn’t human. There weren’t many children like that, but there were a few.

One week, those children decided to gang up on her at recess and taunted her about not being human and told her she couldn’t possibly be a real member of her family because she had green skin, so unlike her Momma and Papa and brother. Those kids were all bigger than her, and all she could think to do was run and hide. 

Jaq and Poe chased them away one day, telling them to leave his little sister alone, but sadly it didn’t stop.

They make sure to corner her when Jaq or Poe or the teacher can’t see and taunt her.

Biva runs crying to the refresher one day, wondering why they just won’t leave her alone.

But what if they’re right? She doesn’t look like her Momma or Papa, or her brother, or Uncle Bodhi, Uncle Chirrut, or Uncle Baze…Aunt Vex looks a little different, but she still isn’t green.

One day they’re all out at the Damerons, with her Momma and Papa and Uncles all gathered around with Uncle Kes and Aunt Shara, talking about the ‘old days’ during the war, while Poe, Jaq, and Biva all play. But the boys want to play X-Wing pilots again while she wants to play Pathfinders.

She ends up slipping off into the woods, thinking about how different she is. She doesn’t look like anyone else here…maybe the mean kids at school are right?

Biva ends up climbing high into a tree and sits with her back against the trunk on a large branch, and starts to cry.

~~  
Jyn and Cassian were frantic when they realized Biva was missing. They’d taken their eyes off her for only a few moments, she’d been playing at the edge of the patio, and now she was gone. 

Kes and Shara were the first to address the guilt stricken looks, reminding them that children did wander off sometimes, and that they weren’t bad parents for taking their eyes off their daughter for a few minutes at a friend’s house.

Bodhi had a feeling that they were going to be watching Biva like a hawk for at least a little while though after she was found.

The adults fanned out around the house to look for the girl. Vexei took the northwest, and after a time found what looked like small boot prints in the soft moss. After a quarter of an hour, the prints stopped, and she glanced up, noticing a form in the tree high above her.

And the sound of sobbing.

Vexei sighed and carefully scaled the tree. Biva didn’t look up when she reached the girl’s branch, so she climbed onto the branch, taking a moment to comm the other adults to let them know that she’d found Biva and would bring her back soon.

First though, she needed to see what was bothering the girl. Jyn had mentioned that Biva had seemed unusually anxious recently, but the teacher couldn’t put a pinpoint on it, and Biva refused to tell her parents what was wrong.

Vexei thought she might have an idea.

“What’s wrong, little Biva?” she asked softly. “You ran off and your parents were worried. Why’d you run off _ad'ika_?”

Vexei felt the girl tremble a bit as she leaned into the arm that Vexei put about her, metal fingers curling lightly around Biva’s arm. Biva turned and pressed her face into the material of Vexei’s jumpsuit. Vexei sighed and pushed the girl’s hair gently back from her face. “You can tell me, Biva. You’re Momma and Papa love you, we all do. We were worried.”

“But I’m not like Momma and Papa! I’m not like Jaq…I’m Mirialan, I’m green, I’m not like you, the kids at school say so.” Biva sniffed. “We’re not really family.”

Vexei bit back the urge to find the parents of those children and beat them with her fists. “Oh _ad'ika_ , we are most definitely family. It doesn’t matter if any of us look alike or not. Your Momma and Papa might not be the parents who gave birth to you, but they are your parents…do you think Jaq is any less their family because they didn’t give birth to him?”

Biva shook her head slowly. “No…but he’s human, like they are…like the Damerons are, like my Uncles are. I’m not human.”

“Kriffing shebs,” Vexei swore under her breath. “Dear, I’m no more human than you are, but does that make me any less their family?” She lifted a brow and brought one of Biva’s hands up to touch the horns on her head. “I’m a Zabrak, Biva. I’m not human either. I may not be green like you are, but I’m still not human. Your parents are still my brother and sister, your uncles Chirrut and Baze are still my brothers. And your Uncle Bodhi certainly doesn’t care that I’m not human, or he wouldn’t have married me.”

She squeezed Biva’s hand gently. “Those kids at school are wrong, Biva. Your parents are your family. Your brother is your family. Your uncles and I, your Aunt Shara and Uncle Kes, and even, Poe, we are all family.”

“Really?” Biva asked, her tears stopping as she looked at Vexei with a sudden hope. “Really, Aunt Vex?”

“There’s a saying where I come from, Biva, _Aliit ori'shya tal'din_ ,” Vexei replied. “It means ‘Family is more than blood’. Our family is not one bound by blood, but by Love. And love is a far more powerful force than blood, little Biva.”

Biva let out a shuttering sigh and nodded slowly. “Will you take me back to my family, Aunt Vex?” she asked.

Vexei smiled. “Of course I will.”


	14. Late Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author's Warning: Panic attacks and PTSD are dealt with in this chapter.
> 
> The older Andor children spend the night with their Uncles so Jyn and Cassian can have a quiet night. Unfortunately, it isn't as quiet as they planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

Jyn leaned forward and brushed her lips lightly along Lev Andor's forehead as she set the infant down in his crib. Assured that her son was asleep again, she navigated her way back out to the kitchen where Cassian was cradling a cup of tea and staring out the kitchen window.

Jyn stepped up next to her husband, wrapping her arms around him from behind and placed her head against his back, listening to the sound of his beating heart.

Cassian took a deep, shuttering breath at her touch, and sighed. 

An hour before, she'd been sitting in the living room giving Lev his middle of the night feeding when Cassian had come rushing down the hall, a look of pure panic on his face as he searched for his family.

Jaq and Biva were staying the night with their Uncles Baze and Chirrut to give Cassian and Jyn a well needed break. Life with three children in the house could be exciting, and exhausting. After Lev had gone down the fight time that night, Cassian and Jyn had their first quiet evening, just the two of them, in weeks. They'd fallen asleep in a tangle of limbs in their bed.

But as to be expected with five month olds, Lev had awoken and demanded to be fed. Jyn had slipped quietly out of bed, Cassian murmuring softly before rolling over and falling back asleep, and gone to feed their son.

Less than a quarter hour later, she'd heard Cassian moving down the hallway, then realized after a few moments that he was frantically moving to Jaq and Biva's doors, throwing them open, then rushed into the living room, sick panic in his expression.

He'd come up short when he saw her sitting on the couch, feeding their son. 

She recognized the signs of an attack, and realized the cause of his panic.

She pitched her voice, low and soothing, drawing him over to the couch. “Cassian, we're safe. Everyone is fine. Come here, love.”

Slowly, Cassian blinked, coming back to himself. His breathing slowed after several minutes and his shoulders slumped as he moved to the couch, dropping down beside her and burying his head in her shoulder. 

They sat there for a long while as Lev finished and Jyn burped him, then placed the sleeping infant on her shoulder and turned her face to Cassian.

“Waking up alone?” she asked aloud, confirming the trigger of the attack.

“Yes,” Cassian replied in a low tone.

They'd remained there for another few minutes until Jyn got up to put their son back to bed, placing a hand on Cassian's shoulder as she passed.

Now they stood in their kitchen, her head pressed against his back, listening to him breath.

“When I woke up and you weren't in bed, it felt...disorienting,” Cassian spoke slowly as Jyn's arms tightened around his waist. “Then Biva and Jaq's rooms were empty and I thought..”

His words broke off into a soft sob. Jyn was perhaps the only person who'd ever seen Cassian like this, the only person ever would.

She turned him in her arms, letting him bury his head against her shoulder again as she held him tightly.

“It brought back memories of nights while I was gone, in that kriffing prison,” Jyn finished for him.

“Yes,” Cassian replied against her skin. His tears soaked into the neck and shoulder of her robe, but Jyn didn't particularly care. The most obvious signs of the strain that Cassian had experienced over the years manifested itself in nightmares, but occasionally Cassian had waking panic attacks, usually right after waking up or something that disassociated him from the world for a short while.

The good news was he'd never hurt anyone during one of these panic attacks, and he hadn't hurt himself, not the way that Vexei had two months ago when she had Bodhi had been visiting and she'd had an attack in the middle of dinner.

“I'm here, Cassian,” Jyn said softly, knowing from prior experience that the best she could do was given him that verbal and physical comfort, and eventually it would subside. “Biva and Jaq are with Chirrut and Baze, and Lev is safe in his crib. Your family is not going anywhere.”

Cassian gave a shuttering sigh, his breathing evening out once more. After a few more minutes, he lifted his head and met her gaze. 

“I don't know what I would do without you, Jyn,” he said, running his fingers through her thick, dark hair.

“Let's never find out,” Jyn replied, repeating a ritual they'd established in the first months after she'd first come home from the Imperial prison. 

Cassian leaned down to press his lips against hers, inhaling her scent, and taking comfort in her touch. His tea cup sat on the counter, forgotten.

“I predict a 93% chance of human copulation between you two when you go to bed.”

K2's voice made them both jump.

Cassian smiled a little sheepishly at his wife and she smiled back, keeping her arms firmly around him.

“I thought you were powered down for the night, K2,” she voiced her thoughts.

“My sensors picked up commotion earlier and I activated myself should there be any threat to your family unit,” K-2SO replied in a tone of long suffering. “It appears though that you have dealt with any threat there may be, Jyn Erso-Andor. I will return to sleep mode and continue my monitoring of the house. I do detect that it is quieter this evening without the two other small Andors in the house. Perhaps you should allow them to stay with their other family units more often?”

“We'll think about it,” Cassian replied. “Thank you, K2.”

“Of course, Cassian,” K-2SO replied, obviously detecting Cassian's irony, but refusing to rise to it. 

Cassian turned back to his wife, lifting Jyn up into his arms and carrying her back towards their room. They exchanged a glance as Cassian lay Jyn back in bed, and he shut off the light, slipping into the bed beside her.

For once K2's statistic was wrong. Late night feedings and panic attacks tended to be draining, and Cassian was more than happy to just settle for feeling his wife in his arms, knowing his family was alive, and safe.


	15. Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A good friend passes on into the Force and they mourn.
> 
> Sorry readers, a bit more angst and sadness. I rewatched Force Awakens recently and was reminded of the Damerons. I thought if the Andors lived on Yavin 4 they would be rather close to the family. This is the result. More fluff next time though, I promise!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

It rained the day they buried Shara Bey.

Kes Dameron stood still as a statue, staring at the mound where his beloved wife now lay. Tears streamed openly down the former Pathfinder’s face. 

Jyn’s heart twisted at the sight of her former commanding officer and friend in such a state. Shara’s passing was difficult on them all, but obviously more so for Kes and Poe.

Poe Dameron stood beside his father, staring at the mound as if he couldn’t believe it was real. A hollow had formed in their family, one that could never be filled again.

The two Damerons had been standing like that for almost half an hour. Most of the mourners had already left, leaving the family to grieve quietly. The crew of Rogue One remained though, providing what comfort they could for the grieving father and son.

Though Jyn knew nothing that they could do would remove the hole in their lives.

Their youngest, almost ten months old now, slept, blissfully unaware of the sorrow around him, in a baby carrier strapped to Cassian’s back. Neither Jyn nor Cassian had the heart to wake Lev up. He’d wake up again when he was hungry or needed a change.

Finally, Kes turned to Rogue One, and it looked for a moment as if the light had gone out of his eyes…no, Jyn could still see a spark of her former commander there, but he would have to learn to live without his wife. The gaze he gave his son told her that he knew he still had someone he could, and needed to, live for.

But he also needed some time to come to grips with his own grief.

Jyn exchanged a glance with Cassian at Kes’s unanswered question, and nodded.

Kes sighed and knelt beside his son, placing both hands on Poe’s shoulders. “Poe, would you like to stay with the Andors? Just for a couple of days, and you can come home whenever you want.”

Poe stared up at his father. Even at eight, Poe was very observant. Some part of him needed his father, but some part of him also needed a warm environment that could help him adjust to his new reality soon. The first few days after his mother’s death, Poe had stayed attached to his father like a minoch, but now, with several days (they’d delayed the burial for some of Shara’s old friends to return to Yavin for her funeral, the Solos and Skywalker among them)…Poe nodded slowly.

Jaq, almost two years older than Poe, crossed the short distance between his family and his friend, and Biva, now five, followed. Poe stared at his friends, then threw his arms around his father, and Kes gave the boy a tight hug. 

“Just a few days Poe,” Kes promised. “Just to let me set the house to rights, okay? I’m not going anywhere, and I’ll come into town tomorrow to see you.”

Poe nodded slowly and said something into his father’s chest, then turned and let Biva and Jaq take his hands.  
“Jyn, Cassian, why don’t you two take the kids back to town,” Bodhi suggested. “Vexei and I’ll get a bag for Poe.”

Cassian and Kes both shot Bodhi a grateful look.

When the children paused before Cassian and Jyn, Cassian reached out for his daughter’s hand. Biva looked solemnly up at her father and took his hand, letting him lead her away. Jyn offered Poe a hand, and Poe took it, Jaq firmly grasping his other, and the six of them turned and slowly made their way back to town with Baze and Chirrut playing rearguard.

After Bodhi and Vexei followed Kes back to the house to get a bag and toys for Poe, after Kes was alone again in the house he had shared once with his wife and son, Kes Dameron found himself back in the room that still smelled of his wife’s perfume.

He collapsed onto the bed and wept.

~~

The table at the Andor house was full that night. Poe sat between Biva and Jaq, the latter hovering like a protective older brother, much as he had with Biva in the past. Jyn fed Lev and Cassian set more meat filled pastries on the table.

Dinner was subdued, but Jyn could see Poe showing a little bit of his normally bright self, away from the grief and darkness of his home, with his mother gone and his father grieving. One of Shara’s old friends, a pilot named L'ulo was still at the house with Kes, and he’d told the Andors he intended to stick around for at least awhile, to help Kes and Poe settle into their new reality.

By unspoken agreement, Jyn and Cassian knew they’d welcome Poe and Kes into their home whenever the two needed it. Jyn had realized over the years that she’d grown to view the Damerons as extended family: perhaps not quite the same as the Rogue One crew, but family all the same.

Family that would help each other through whatever they could.

The Rooks were staying with Chirrut and Baze this time around. Vexei had admitted with some difficulty that she found it difficult to sleep in the same house as an infant without nightmares. They all remembered the damage she’d done to her own cybernetic hand the last time they’d stayed over and Lev had woken up in the middle of the night and agreed, until Lev was a bit older, it was best for Vexei to not spend the night.

Jyn recalled the guilt on her friend’s expression at the admission. It was one of the few times she’d ever seen the indomitable Scorch crack. 

It was late before Cassian and Jyn managed to get all the kids down. Poe was sleeping in Jaq’s room, not wanting to be alone. Biva was asleep in her bed and Lev was hopefully down for the night.

Jyn lay beside Cassian in their bed, her arms wrapped tightly around him as her husband finally let himself cry in mourning at the loss of his friend. Cassian had known Shara and Kes years before Rogue One. Cassian felt almost like he was losing his family all over again. Shara had been, in many ways, a stand in sister for Cassian. Seeing Kes in his current state also reminded Cassian of how he’d felt when he thought Jyn was dead.

Jyn Erso-Ando lay awake long after Cassian had finally fallen into an exhausted sleep, staring up at the ceiling. Since she and the others had fought their way free of the Imperial Prison four years ago, life had been kind in many ways, but the past few weeks were a reminder of how cruel life could be.

Shara’s one with the Force, Jyn thought to herself, remembering Chirrut’s words.

She just wished those words could dull the ache the loss of such a good woman had left in so many lives.


	16. New Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Andor household welcomes Shona Rook into the Rogue One family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars is owed by LucasFilms and Disney

As complicated as hauling three children to the spaceport might have been to meet the Rooks, Jyn Erso-Andor would have done it in a heartbeat if Bodhi requested it.

As it was, Bodhi advised Jyn, Cassian, Baze, and Chirrut that the Rooks would set their ship to rights before they came to see everyone. He remarked casually that his daughter was already beginning to learn the ins and outs of running a freighter hauling business, though he and Vexei were firm about encouraging her to pursue whatever dreams she might have. The both suspected she might still feel a bit overwhelmed by everything, so when she asked to learn the mechanics of working on the ship and how negotiate a contract, the Rooks only questioned her once before they allowed her to begin sitting in on the occasional contract negotiation. 

Vexei said Shona had taken to working on the ship like a tauntaun to snow. The Twi’lek had also shown some interest in piloting, and she was in the cockpit with Bodhi more often than not.

Jyn had spoken to Shona a few times over holocall, but she still wasn’t quite prepared for the utter seriousness and self-containment of the girl that now stood in the doorway with her parents.

Shona Rook was dressed neatly in a pair of gray-green coveralls and wearing goggles, reminiscent of Bodhi’s, on her forehead. She wore a blaster pistol stowed carefully at one hip, much as her mother wore weapons at each hip and Bodhi wore one at his left.

Before entering the house, Shona, took a single look at the room, and the three children waiting in the living room, then carefully removed her blaster from its holster in a practiced motion and offered it to Jyn.

Jyn remembered similar movements from her eleven year old self years ago. If Shona’s mother was anything other than a Mandalorian, she would have felt concern at Shona’s obvious experience with the blaster, but Mandos taught their children weapons work young.

“Hello Shona,” Jyn projected a reassuring voice as she saw how Shona hung close to Bodhi’s side. “It was nice speaking with you over holo, but it is nicer seeing you in person. I’m Jyn.”

Shona gazed at her seriously and glanced at Vexei and Bodhi before she took Jyn’s pro-offered hand. “Mum and Dad said I could call you Aunt Jyn?” Shona asked in a careful voice.

Jyn could read a world of heartbreak in that careful tone. At Shona’s age, at least Jyn had Saw, no matter how rough that childhood had been. Saw hadn’t abandoned her until she was 16. Shona had been with Vexei and Bodhi for three months, and while it was clear she trusted them, Jyn could also tell the girl half expected all of this to go up in smoke around her.

And from the look in Bodhi and Vexei’s eyes, they were very much aware of this. 

Jyn found herself kneeling and opening her arms to Shona, and the girl cautiously approached, then let Jyn hug her, and hugged Jyn back. “Yes, Shona, I’m your Aunt Jyn. And your Uncle Cassian is here, as are your cousins. Your Uncle Baze and Uncle Chirrut will be over this afternoon to meet you in person.”

Cassian saw Bodhi holding Vexei’s fingers tightly, holding his breath as he waited for Shona’s response.

“Thank you, Aunt Jyn,” Shona replied, some of the tension leaking from her shoulders.

Then Biva and Jaq were swarming Shona and pulling her into the living room, clearly happy to have someone new to play with and welcoming her into the family. Lev toddled around the coffee table and demanded his own hug from his blue cousin, tugging on one of Shona’s lekku. Eventually Cassian managed to give her a hug before the kids firmly claimed Shona and she followed them back to their rooms to be shown models and toys.

Bodhi and Vexei both let out a deep breath as the kids disappeared down the hall and exchanged a relieved look.

“Better than we expected,” Vexei admitted as Cassian offered her and Bodhi a cup of caf. “She’s been nervous for the past week about meeting everyone in person.” She took a long sip of caf and glanced down the hall at laughter, Biva’s high picked shriek, Jaq’s chuckle, and a giggle Vexei identified as her daughter. “I think the kids helped.”

Bodhi nodded, looking a bit weary as he took a seat in one of the chairs in the living room. “She wakes up sometimes, afraid all of this is a dream. Sometimes takes awhile to reassure her.”

“Not surprising, though,” Jyn said as she picked up Lev and pulled the toddler into her lap. “Though she seems less nervous now than when you first introduced us over holo.” She glanced towards the blaster pistol high on a shelf near the door. “How long have you been teaching her to use that?”

“Since the second week,” Vexei replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Cassian’s brow creased in concern. “Blaster, two weeks after she came to live with you?”

“Mandos teach their children from almost the cradle, Cassian,” Vexei shrugged. “Shona’s first real interaction with me was literally watching me kill someone who was threatening her. Our daughter is no stranger to violence. I would rather she know how to defend herself, both with weapons and without.”

“You’re teaching her hand to hand?” Cassian asked, lifting a brow. 

“Vexei is,” Bodhi replied. “I’m slowly introducing her to piloting.”

“And you’re okay with all this?” Cassian’s brow creased. He’d been a child solider, and while he was teaching his son how to shoot, and would teach his daughter soon, the fact that Shona had openly carried a blaster disturbed him a bit, perhaps reminding him too much of his own childhood.

“We’re freighter pilots, Cassian,” Bodhi reminded him. “There are places we go that aren’t necessarily the safest. While we are careful where we take Shona, I will remind you, she watched Vexei kill someone only inches away. She’s being raised by a Mandalorian, and with the way things are, no matter how much the Republic may think everything is fine, I want my daughter to be able to defend herself.”

The last came in a fierce, low voice, and Cassian finally nodded.

“Alright, Bodhi,” Cassian replied. “I guess, given the way Jyn and I were raised, it can’t be any worse…” Cassian paused, a small smile managing to flicker across his lips. “Actually, it’s better, because she is learning in a more controlled environment, from those she loves and who love her.”

“We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t think it necessary,” Vexei told him.

“Oh, Cassian, Jyn! Tell these small humans to stay out of the office!” K-2SO’s acerbic voice demanded from down the hall.

“Probably Biva,” Jyn predicted as Cassian stood and went to see what was going on.

Shona seemed more relaxed when Baze and Chirrut appeared at the house, having spent a few hours around her new cousins and Uncle and Aunt, and when Baze lifted her up in the air for a giant hug, she actually laughed.

Jyn reflected it was a fine introduction and that Shona was an excellent addition to the Rogue One family.


	17. Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place a year or so after "Tin Anniversary." It felt like time to advance the timeline a bit. Jyn and Cassian have a serious discussion about their children's training.
> 
> Author's note: General survival training isn't in the form of camping/hunting/fishing is fairly common among children, IMO - usually through scouts or with family. 
> 
> And if there's any particular snippit of the lives of the Rogue One family readers want to see, I'm always open to suggestion :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasFilms/Disney

Cassian put the last of the dishes to dry by the sink as he stared out their kitchen window, lost in thought. He could see reflection of the streaks of gray in his hair in the window and smiled faintly. At one point he’d never hoped to live long enough to see so much gray in his hair. Now in his early 40s, between his prior career in Rebel Intelligence, and now a marriage to Jyn with three rather active and inquisitive children, he supposed he should be thankful he hadn’t gone completely gray. Eleven years of marriage to Jyn Erso-Andor was exciting, to say the least. 

It wasn’t Jyn’s footsteps that gave her away as she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, but the soft whisper of the evening breeze on her clothing. Her footsteps were still silent, after so many years during the war in the Pathfinders, and sneaking around the house to keep from waking their kids.

He let himself lean back against his wife’s embrace feeling the warmth of her cheek pressed against his back and he could envision her hair, escaping from a messy bun, a single streak of gray at her brow. In her late 30s, she was aging quite gracefully, more so, perhaps, than Cassian. 

“Biva and Lev still up?” he asked softly as he listened to the sweet sound of her breath.

“No,” Jyn replied. “Those two ran themselves ragged today at the Damerons.”

They’d spent most of the day at Kes Dameron’s ranch, taking an opportunity to spend the day with friends while the children roamed the semi-controlled wilds of the ranch itself. Jaq was spending the night with Poe, as the teen boys were often wont to do. Poe would probably be at the Andors the following week’s end.

“So no one but you and me still awake, hmm?” he asked, turning to spin her into his arms, laughing as she leaned up to kiss him. 

“Looks that way,” Jyn told him with a grin. She touched his nose lightly with hers. “Though before we get too carried away, we should probably discuss Kes’s idea.”

Cassian grumbled a little, but he nodded, regarding her bright green eyes. “Further wildness training for the children. How much more are you and Kes looking at teaching them? We’re teaching or have taught them to hunt, camp, make use of available resources. You-“

He paused and let his arms drop, realizing what this was really about. “Mavein.”

Jyn’s expression flickered a moment when he mentioned the recently dead, former Pathfinder. Then she sighed and leaned back against the counter. “Yes. The regional investigation claimed it was an isolated pocket of Imperial sympathizers and that Mavein was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I don’t believe it, and neither do you.”

“I don’t,” Cassian agreed, his voice taking on a grim note. “The New Republic can pretend all it wants that it’s non-aggression act actually means something, and that the Empire is truly dead and gone, but..”

“But we both know something else is brewing out there,” Jyn finished for him. “Kes wants to start training the kids in something similar to basic…not as strenuous, but make sure that the kids all know how to survive if we get attacked, if we get separated, or..”  
“If unfriendly forces take occupation.” Cassian’s expression was dark now, recalling his own childhood on Fest, his work as a child solider, and how he’d never wanted that for his kids.

“Kes also suggested we include Vexei and Shona,” Jyn said quietly.

Cassian lifted both brows at that. At 16, Shona Rook was already a deadly shot and better trained than many adults he’d ever met in more civilized and urban parts of the galaxy. When Vexei had told them years ago she intended to train her daughter as a Mandalorian, she hadn’t been kidding.

“I,” Cassian’s shoulders slumped a bit. “I hate the idea, Jyn, that our children learn to fight, hide, everything you and I had to do, for more than just regular survival purposes like hunting and camping, but,” he shook his head, not wanting to voice it but knowing he had to. “But there is still a threat out there, and I do not know if this peace will last.”

“I hate it too,” Jyn admitted. “I learned how to be a soldier at 8, you at 6. Vexei has trained as a warrior almost her whole life. But there is a difference in this than what our children experienced.” She took one step, two, and then was directly in front of him again.

“Our children are being trained out of love, not out of immediate necessity,” Jyn told her husband quietly. “In the current climate, it is sadly practical. We can hope they never need the skills, but I would rather our kids be prepared, and learn in a safe environment, as you and I never had the chance to.”

“Lev’s too young,” Cassian said. “He’s five.”

Jyn nodded her agreement. “We’ll keep teaching him what we taught Jaq and Biva when they were younger. But Jaq’s fifteen, and Biva’s eleven. They can do it, and it will be far less strenuous and dangerous than Saw ever had me do.”

“Shona’s sixteen and Poe is fourteen,” he added. He looked frustrated, but she could see the agreement in his gaze. “Alright Jyn. You and Kes, and Vexei, take the four older children out.”

“A lot will be building on a lot of what they already know,” Jyn reassured him. “And there will be three adults, and Shona’s close to adulthood, to keep an eye on them.”

Cassian smiled faintly. “At least I know they’ll all be in good hands.”

“The best,” Jyn replied confidently. She smiled, a slow, seductive curve to her lips that had his heart pounding in his chest again. “Now that we’ve discussed that, I believe we were in the middle of something?”

Cassian snorted. “Not really the middle, more the beginning.” He slid an arma round her waist and kissed her firmly. “But I believe you are mostly correct.”

“Shall we adjourn to somewhere more private?” Jyn suggested with heat in her eyes. 

Cassian bit back a groan at that look. “Kriff woman, you will be the death of me.” He pulled her hand in his, leading her back down the hall towards their room.

She laughed. “Oh no, Cassian Andor, you have a long time to come that you need to live. I will never tire of you.”

“Nor I you,” Cassian replied as he pulled her into their room and shut the door behind them.


	18. The Curious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lev explores the world around him while his mother and siblings are off doing survival training. There was a request for a bit more Lev, so here it is. More to come :)
> 
> Author's Note: Brief description of animal dissection. Lev's behavior is pattered after a child I knew growing up who was very interested in biology. Like Lev, they would never want to hurt a living creature, but they were perfectly curious and willing to look at specimens that had died of natural causes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasFilms/Disney

Papa was working on something in the office, though the door was open so Lev could easy dash in if he wanted to see Papa.

Today, as it had been for the past week, it was just him, Papa, and K-2SO. During the days Papa had to work at the cantina, he spent time with Uncle Baze and Uncle Chirrut. Uncle Chirrut was showing him how to use a staff, telling the youngest Andor that a staff was a good, practical weapon.

You could use almost any sturdy and long stick as a staff. You could use a staff for helping you keep your balance, for poking at curious things you found in the wet jungles of Yavin 4, or for smacking someone if they tried to hurt you. Staves, Lev reflected, were the most practical weapon of all. They weren’t like lightsabers, which could only be used by Jedi like Luke Skywalker, or maybe Senator Leia Organa-Solo. They weren’t like the blasters the Aunt Vexei preferred (though she promised when he was older to teach him how to use a electro-staff too).

Momma and Papa taught all their children about blaster safety, though Lev wasn’t allowed to pick them up or even touch one yet, not like Biva and Jaq.

Lev pouted as he poked at his staff that leaned against the wall next to the front door. Biva and Jaq were out in the jungles with Uncle Kes, Aunt Vexei, Momma, Poe, and cousin Shona, learning how to use blasters and all about ‘survival,’ as Momma had put it. 

Lev had been informed he was too young for such training, and since he’d been left alone with Papa over the week, he’d pouted more than once about it.

Uncle Baze told him that he would be old enough soon, and to not wish his childhood away. Uncle Chirrut had smacked him lightly in the shin with his own staff and told Lev that while he couldn’t learn survival training with the others, he could very well learn how to use a staff.

“There is a 46% chance that you will try and go outside and play with that,” K-2SO’s mechanical voice told Lev from the living room doorway.

Lev turned away from the staff to watch the former Imperial droid stride into the room. He craned his neck so he could look at Kay’s eyes. 

The droid had been in Lev’s life for as long as he could remember. Momma and Papa had stories about K-2 from back during the war, and Lev found the droid to be fascinating.

He cast a cursory glance down the hall to make sure Papa wasn’t coming, then climbed on the nearest piece of furniture, a chair, so he was a little taller, though still not as tall as K-2.

“Will you show me your circuits?” he asked in a very serious little voice.

The light in K-2’s eyes whirled, and Lev could tell the droid was ‘thinking’ very hard.

“Why, young human, do you wish to look at my circuits?” K-2 asked in what for the droid seemed like a cautious, though not his usual solemn, voice.

“I want to know how they work,” Lev replied.  
Fifteen minutes later, Cassian came into the living room to check on his son, because it was far too quiet, and found K-2 in a semi-reclining position on the couch of all places, while Lev leaned over his chest cavity, fingers hovering millimeters from the open panel of K-2’s circuit boards. 

“This one leads to the controls of my legs,” K-2 was explaining in a very patient voice that surprised Cassian, while Lev nodded very seriously and looked as if he was drinking in every word the droid said.

Cassian eyed the two of them for a long moment, and while K-2 was aware of him, the droid said nothing, and instead continued explaining circuit boards to a five year old boy.

Cassian returned to his office after a few minutes to finish balancing the books for Jyn’s shop, wondering what other oddities he would come across while his wife, daughter, and older son were out of the house.

~~  
Two days later, Lev was out in the garden with his father, carefully picking their latest harvest of tubers when he came across the corpse of a Stintaril. Lev set his basket aside and grabbed a nearby stick, poking at the rodent’s body for a long moment before looking at his father. “Papa, what makes Stintaril go? What do they look like on the inside?”

Cassian paused in the motion of placing a tuber in his basket and regarded his son. He considered the question gravely. “Perhaps we can find a book we can download onto your holopad that shows diagrams,” he suggested at last.

“But we’ve got one right here. I wanna see what it looks like inside,” Lev pouted, his lower lip jutting out.

Cassian was by no means a squeamish man, not in his line of work during the war, but the concept of cutting open a dead rodent just to see what was inside didn’t appeal to him all that much.

“Diagrams might be a bit less messy, Lev,” he replied firmly.

“Momma and Biva and Jaq are getting messy in the jungle, why can’t I get messy here?” Lev countered with perfect child logical.

Somehow, two hours later, Lev was in the garden, leaning over the dead rodent with his Uncle Baze while Baze cut open the Stintaril with careful precision and the two began comparing the innards of the animal to the diagram that Lev had pulled up on his holopad.

Cassian shook his head as he watched them from the kitchen window then turned to hand Chirrut his cup of tea.

“It’s a perfectly natural question,” Chirrut told Cassian calmly. “Lev is forever curious about how things work, how they are made, and what makes them run. He has shown no urge to hurt living things and has confined his curiosity to either inanimate objects, already dead things, or willing droids.”

“Your offspring shows some of the same poking and prodding you did to me when you first reprogramed me,” K-2 informed Cassian. “As the human phrase goes, like father like son. He will help Jyn in her shop whenever she lets him.”

Cassian frowned and glanced back out the window.

“There was a boy I knew once,” Chirrut told him. “One who liked to inflict cruelty on others, hurting others, sentient, human, alien, fauna, and otherwise. Young Lev is nothing like this, Cassian. He only wants to see the inside of a dead rodent.”

Cassian let Chirrut’s words reassure him and some of the tension leaked from his poster. In his life he had encountered many people, but cruel and kind, and now that he thought about it, the expression on Lev’s face reminded him a bit of some of the biologists in the Rebellion whenever they examined the corpse of a creature found in the wild. It was one of curiosity, the need to learn, nothing more.

Though Cassian did advise Lev at dinner that night that they would discuss the Stintaril after dinner, not during.


	19. Visions of the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaq Andor spends some time with his friend Poe Dameron and the teens consider their possible futures.
> 
> Author's Note: Possible TFA spoiler due to a reference in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars is owned by LucastFilms/Disney

Jaq heard the gentle sway of leaves as his cousin Poe shifted on the branch on the opposite side of the tree. The teenagers were perched on branches in one of the tallest trees on the Dameron ranch, their backs to the trunk, staring out into the starry night. Jaq was spending the night with Poe, again, this time without his younger sister or cousin Shona there.

“Ever think of what you’re going to do when you get older?” Jaq asked, leaning his head back against the tree trunk, dark hair brushing the bark. “We’ve only got a couple more years before we’re adults.”

“Was there ever really any question what I was gonna do, Jaq?” Poe asked in a voice so soft Jaq strained to hear it.

Jaq closed his eyes as he considered his friend’s, cousin’s, response. Jaq remembered Shara Bey and love of flying she’d passed on to Poe. Since Shara had died when Poe was eight, Poe had spent a great deal of time with his mother’s friend, L'ulo L'ampar. More than once Poe had pulled Jaq away from whatever gathering at the ranch and they’d slip off to see L’ulo, who kept Poe’s love of flying alive and well. 

“Yeah, I guess not,” Jaq agreed. “I think L’ulo would be shocked if you chose anything else, though your dad might not be happy.”

“Like your dad and mom are going to be any happier with your choice,” Poe shot back.

Poe was the only one Jaq had told of Jaq’s own intention to join the New Republic Starfleet. Jaq’s own encounters with L’ulo and Bodhi Rook had ignited his own love of being skybound. Bodhi and Vexei had taken him up in the _Oblivion_ a few times, but he knew it was nothing like L’ulo’s A-Wing that L’ulo would sometimes take Poe or Jaq up in.

“They won’t,” Jaq acknowledged. His parents knew there was still something out there, from scattered reports they still got through their contacts, and they wanted the Andor children to live in peace. They ensured that their children knew the skills necessary to survive in case they were ever attacked, but they still wanted to keep their children as far away from danger as they could.

Jaq scowled up at the night sky. Shona had faced more than one dangerous situation over the past few years, and while he knew Bodhi Rook wasn’t happy about it, the Pilot’s response, instead of telling his daughter to keep out of harm’s way, was to arm her with as many techniques as he could in case they ended up in trouble again.

Being a freighter pilot’s kid wasn’t the most ideal childhood, Jaq supposed, but while Shona had grown out of her anxiety of being left behind, she also steadfastly refused to remain safe on Yavin 4 while her parents flew various runs all over the galaxy.

“But will they stop us?” Jaq asked aloud.

“No,” came Poe’s immediate answer. “They raised us to make up our own minds. That’s why we’ll do it, regardless of the fact that they won’t be happy about it…it’s why Shona’s a crack shot at 16, why Biva’s learning to take down opponents larger than she is, and why Lev is learning how to use a staff. Our parents might not like us being in danger, but they want us to be able to take care of ourselves and make our own decisions.”  
“Then I guess I’ll see you at the Academy in a few years,” Jaq replied after several minutes of silence.

“You will,” Poe replied, his voice full of complete confidence.

An image suddenly flooded Jaq’s mind. He saw Poe, older, dark curly hair plastered to his hair with sweat, standing beside an X-Wing while wearing a bright orange flightsuit reminiscent of the holos of Shara Bey and Bodhi Rook from their X-Wing days. He saw Poe turning, a little orange and white droid beeping frantically as it rolled towards him, followed by a dark skinned man rushing towards Poe.

Then he was back in the tree, his hands gripping the branch he sat on for dear life, breathing hard.

“Jaq? What’s wrong?” Poe’s voice was laced with concern as he tried to crane around the tree trunk to see his friend.

Jaq took several deep breaths the way Skywalker had taught him as a child and sighed. 

“Jaq?”

“Force vision,” Jaq said into the dark.

“Really? What’d you see?” Poe knew that Jaq was Force sensitive, though never enough to warrant training as a Jedi. 

But Jaq had experienced a few visions over the years, and he’d yet to see one that didn’t come true. They always seemed small at the time, but this one reminded him perhaps he should pay more attention.

“You,” Jaq replied slowly. “You were standing beside an X-Wing, in a bright orange jumpsuit.” He focused on the memory of the vision. “You had a symbol on your helmet…it was kind of like the one from the Rebel Alliance.”

That prouncement was met with silence. Then finally in an incredulous voice, “You mean I was flying for someone…something other than the New Republic.”

“Yeah,” Jaq breathed out. “I think you’re still supposed to go though, fly for the New Republic, at least in the beginning.”

“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” Poe said in a low tone.

Neither did Jaq. He didn’t like what the vision indicated for the future. “They usually come true…but maybe it’s just a warning,” Jaq said at last. “Master Skywalker said that Force visions sometimes warn you about the future, not necessarily predict it.”

Even as he said the words though, Jaq had a very bad feeling that the scene would take place in the future, and he might very well be there to see it in person.


	20. Just the Everyday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slice of life in the Andor family, and Jyn's thoughts on one of her babies leaving the nest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars is owned by LucasArts/Disney

Biva and Lev perched on stools at the side counter in their mother’s shop, watching her haggle cheerily with one of their neighbors over the repair of a droid. They were in the middle of a month long break from school and Jyn had decided today was as good a day as any for them to go to work with her. Both Biva and Lev were old enough to know when to stay out of the way, and both were fascinated by the process of taking mechanical things apart and putting them back together. At twelve and seven, they could both sit and occupy themselves with the minor projects Jyn had given them for at least a short while.

Biva showed an aptitude for dealing with mechanics, whereas Lev was just more interested in the process itself, watching and sometimes helping with taking something apart to see what made it tick. 

Biva’s attention was only half on the haggling. Most of it lay on the small droid before her, one that was supposed to do minor small repairs on farm machinery but had stopped working months ago, and the owner had only recently had a chance to bring it into town, given how spread out people were on Yavin 4. The girl had taken one look at the droid and claimed the project from her mother. Jyn and the droid’s owner, noting the difference in cost between repair and replacement, but the owner still being somewhat sentimental over the droid, agreed to let Biva give it a crack.

As their neighbor left, Lev clambered off his stool and wandered over to his mother, peering at the droid she was pulling into the back of the shop.

“What’s wrong with it Momma, why won’t it work?” he asked in his serious little tone. Lev was at times, Jyn thought, the most serious of the Andor children.

“That’s what we’re going to find out, lovie,” Jyn told her son. “Get the door for Momma so I can pull this into my workshop.”

Lev complied with a small grin, and Jyn could tell he’d spend the afternoon observing her as she took the side panel of the droid off to examine its innards.

Biva’s eyes remained locked on her own project, a small frown on concentration on her lips. Jyn smiled faintly at the sight and left her daughter to her work.

By day’s end, even with meal and play breaks for the children, Biva had the small droid running again. She giggled as it zipped about the floor of the shop. Jyn considered how much the droid reminded her of the small mouse droids the Imperials once used and suppressed a mental shutter. 

The three of them went home covered in grease and were met by an amused Jaq in the kitchen. The seventeen year old was in the midst of cooking dinner sausages and lentils, though Jyn suspected he would be using an enormous amount of spice the way he normally did, and made a mental note to have extra water at the table at dinner. 

Cassian would be due home late that night, working a later shift at the cantina. Through their decade or more on Yavin 4, Cassian had found the job suited him. The pay was decent and he still had access to a surprising amount of information, well, surprising if you weren’t former Intelligence. 

As Jyn and the two youngest Andors cleaned up for dinner, she considered the sight of her son in the kitchen, and the fact that he was fast approaching 18.  
She and Cassian both knew he wanted to join the New Republic Starfleet. Biva was still only twelve and hadn’t particularly spoken of any plans for her future, and at seven, Lev was more worried about his playdate with friends later on in the week.

She had to consider, however, that there was soon going to be a shift in their family, a hole, if Jaq did really decide to join the Starfleet.

There was never a question of trying to stop him. Jyn and Cassian weren’t the type of parents to try and run their adult children’s lives like that. It didn’t mean they didn’t worry though.

Jyn found herself mentally storing the scenes from tonight in her mind, for when, not if, her oldest son left home. Two years before, Jaq had quietly mentioned a Force vision he’d had of the future to his parents and Chirrut. Chirrut hadn’t seemed particularly surprised by it, in fact he’d seemed more surprised that Jaq hadn’t mentioned other Force visions, but there were some things that Jaq refused to mention, and Jyn knew better than to push.

“I calculate a 94% chance of you needing more water, Lev Andor,” K-2SO’s voice broke into her reverie as she watched the former Imperial Droid very precisely set another glass of water down in front of Lev. 

“I think Lev can figure that one out on his own, K2,” Biva muttered at the droid.

“There is also an 87% chance that you are trying to hide the fact that you need more water, Biva Andor,” K2 shot back in his mechanical voice.

Jyn had to hide a grin behind her napkin. The sarcasm she’d always associated with K2 hadn’t faded at all over the years, though despite it, or because of it, the droid was usually very patient with the Andor children. He’d even submitted to allowing Biva to assist him with minor repairs and updates.

“I think you and Cassian would be rather upset if I fried her when she tried on her own while I was powered down,” K2 had told Jyn on that subject. “And while I do not fear your displeasure, Cassian might threaten to reprogram me again. She is less likely to do damage to herself or me if I allow her to assist.”

That evening when the children were in their own rooms, either sleeping in Lev’s case, or reading in Biva and Jaq’s case, Jyn spoke to K2.

“Would you want to go with Jaq, when he leaves, or stay here?” Jyn asked the droid bluntly.

K2’s eyes whirled a moment but he did not pretend that he didn’t know what she was speaking of. “While I have some fondness for the oldest Andor child, I believe I am better suited here. Besides, do I really wish to put up with all of the pilots that might wish to poke at me or the stupid ones that might try and pry me apart for the Imperial symbol on my shoulder?”

Good point.

“Your child has a high percentage of doing well in the New Republic Starfleet,” K2 informed her. “92.7% chance. Though it may be useless to tell you this as my observations had noted that you and Cassian shall worry about Jaq anyway. Now if you do not mind I would like to power down for the evening.”  
It was perhaps a foolish question, Jyn admitted to herself later, though she still would have felt better if Jaq had K2 to watch over him.

Perhaps they could find a droid to fix up and send with him, she thought as she turned her attention back to the dishes.


	21. Just An Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian have a pillow fight.
> 
> Sometimes you just need pure fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney

When Cassian Andor entered their bedroom in the middle of the afternoon on a rest day, he did not expect to be hit in the face with a pillow.

The pillow landed with a _whump_ on floor and Cassian blinked several times before staring at his wife.

Jyn Erso-Andor knelt in the middle of the bed, a mischievous grin on her lips, dressed apparently in just her underwear and one of –his- shirts.

“Jyn!? What if one of the kids walks in?” Cassian asked, though he had to admit the sight of her in his shirt sent his blood racing.

“Biva and Lev are over at Chirrut and Baze’s for the night,” Jyn informed him, her eyes dancing.

And then she launched another pillow at him. 

Cassian caught this one, his eyes gleaming as he regarded her.

Jyn cackled and grabbed another pillow from the head of the bed. He realized there was a whole heap of pillows on their bed. He didn’t recall there normally being that many pillows. Jyn had evidently planned for this.

Cassian kicked his boots off and left them at the bedroom door before launching himself at the bed, trying to smack Jyn with the pillow he held. She dodged to the left side of the bed, just barely missing rolling off as she did.

She smacked him with the pillow she held before he had a chance to retaliate.

Cassian sputtered and blocked another hit with his arm. Jyn rolled into the pile of pillows at the head of the bed to avoid his next smack, presenting him with her bottom.

Cassian grinned and smacked her rear before she had a chance to move out of the way and Jyn squawked at him.

“Cassian!”

“All’s fair in love and war, _Mi corazón_ ,” he replied. 

She smacked him with another pillow. 

The next several minutes devolved into giggling as the two of them smacked each other with pillows and dodging blankets. 

Cassian couldn’t quite recall the last time either of them had laughed so lightheartedly. Life certainly hadn’t been bad over the past few years, but there were still the daily stresses of work and family, worrying about Jaq being off at the Academy and that he’d soon be graduating and joining the New Republic Starfleet. They’d had some minor worries with Biva getting into fights with other kids at school until they’d discovered it was because she was being teased over her small size and green skin, then Jyn had raised Force with the teachers, and Lev’s interest in trying to take kitchen appliances apart. 

Lev now spent a few hours every week with the local doctor, learning anything he could about injury treatment. Biva would be graduating in just another year or two and then they’d worry about another child wanting to leave the nest.

So an afternoon pillow fight seemed just the right speed.

It all seemed to be going smoothly until Jyn managed to knock every pillow but the one she held off the bed and pinned him to the bed.

Cassian caught the glitter in her eyes, but then surprised her by darting up and pressing his lips against her own.

The pillow fight was quickly forgotten in favor of kisses, and other more lovely things as Cassian got her out of his shirt.

~~  
They lay together, staring up at the ceiling as the last rays of sunlight filtered through their bedroom window.

“We should do this more often,” Jyn sighed contently as she cuddled against his side.

“What, make love, or the pillow fight?” Cassian inquired with a smile.

“Maybe both?” Jyn suggested. She sighed. “Our children will get older and may leave home, even leave Yavin, and we’ll still be here.”

“We will,” Cassian agreed. “But they’ll have a place to come home to.”

Jyn smiled, rolling onto her side to look at him. “More than either of us had, before.”

Cassian’s smile dimmed for just a moment as he recalled his own childhood. When he’d been a teen he’d already been fighting for the Rebellion. It was something he’d never wanted for his kids…then again, before Jyn, he’d never thought he’d live long enough to have kids.

“We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?” he said softly. He smiled. “I’m happy here, with you, with our children, with our family.”

“The kids, Baze and Chirrut, Bodhi and Vexei?” Jyn asked rhetorically. She returned his smile. “I know, it all feels right, somehow.”

“Thank you for giving me a future, Jyn,” Cassian said softly. 

“For you, Cassian, anything,” she replied, leaning in to kiss him again. “Thank you for giving me a family, a home.”

“Home is where the heart is?” Cassian said.

“And you are my heart,” Jyn answered. “You always will be.”

“And you will be mine,” Cassian agreed. 

And they fell together again as the evening shadows fell over them, taking advantage of their evening alone.


	22. Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Biva and Lev get some lessons and advice from mentors.  
> I personally love the idea of Baze being one of Biva's main mentors. And we all know the Rogue One crew wouldn't let Kes stay out in the woods alone.
> 
> Yavin 4 flora provided by Wookiepedia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney

“Easy, little sister,” Uncle Baze’s voice rumbled in the years of fifteen year old Biva Andor as he watched her beat at the dummy with her staff. “Attacking it with such tension will not help your attacks be any more effective.”

Biva’s mouth formed into a thin line as she smacked the dummy several more times to keep from snapping at her uncle.

“Biva, put the staff down and come take a break,” Baze instructed her in a firm voice. 

She tossed the staff aside and stalked over to where Baze was seated on a low bench. He handled her a bottle of water, which she did thank him for quietly, and dropped onto the bench beside him, glaring at the dummy.

“Alright, Biva, what’s wrong?” Baze asked after they’d sat for several minutes and the girl had time to physically calm down, if not mentally.

Biva took one deep breath, and then another, before her shoulders slumped. “Just frustrated,” she said at last. “Kind of feeling like I’ll never really find my place in all of this. Jaq’s off piloting, at 10 Lev is already learning basic first aid from the local medics, and me? I’m just coasting through my classes..I’m not the top or the bottom, I just…am.”

Baze smiled faintly and placed a large hand on his niece’s shoulder. “You are you, Biva Andor. And you are only fifteen. You do not yet have to decide what you want to do, there is time. You can leave Yavin 4, or you can stay here. You can work in your mother’s shop, or you can learn a trade here.” He glanced towards the dummies. “You’re hand to hand is better than a number of the guardians I saw in Jedha, but you have a fast temper, and that hampers you when someone or something frustrates you or makes you angry.”

“That’s all I’ve really got going for me though,” Biva said softly. “I’m good at fighting, though yeah, I have a bad temper. You know how Momma and Papa feel about that though. They were child soldiers, they don’t want that for me.”

“And you’re fifteen, not eight and not six,” Baze reminded her. “But don’t let that just be your only goal. Think about what you want. What else is there in your heart but the fight? As you get older, you could teach – self defense perhaps? You hunt game with your Aunt Vexei in the forests here. If it is something physical you are looking for, there are many options.”

Her expression grew thoughtful as she mulled over his words and took another swig of water.

“And remember, you are only fifteen. Give yourself time. You have three years at least. You will find your path.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Perhaps now though, you should consider practicing your meditation? It might help with that temper of yours.”

Biva found herself grinning up at her uncle. “Don’t let Uncle Chirrut here you say that, or he will needle you endlessly over how he was right.”

“He will anyway,” Baze replied calmly. “But I let him needle me. He enjoys it, and who am I to deny my husband that enjoyment?”  
Biva couldn’t help but grin as she settled on the ground to meditate with Baze.

~~

“Do you remember what Blueleaf is for?” Kes Dameron asked as he and ten year old Lev Andor knelt in a clearing on the Dameron ranch.

Poe had been gone for a bit over two years at this point, along with Jaq, at the Academy and eventually to fly with the New Republic Starfleet, but the remaining Andor children were still frequent visitors to the ranch. More than once Kes and Jyn had taken Biva and Jaq out into the wilderness for additional training. Hopefully neither would ever be Pathfinders, but it was best the children have survival training, given the current state of things.

Kes knew there was still something out there, some threat to the New Republic, even if the Senate blithely ignored it. 

History seemed to be repeating itself.

So whenever Lev Andor asked for additional lessons on flora and fauna, Kes was more than willing to teach him with Cassian and Jyn’s permission.

Lev’s brow crinkled in concentration. “Blueleaf is edible, and has a spicy taste to it. Its oil can also be used to enhance the senses. Jaq always used too much when he was cooking.”

Kes chuckled. “Right. Your mother has mentioned that many times. Alright then, what about Raven-thorn?”

“Raven-thorn isn’t edible at all, and it can leave some pretty nasty cuts and scratches,” Lev replied. “It tears easily through flesh and clothing and you should avoid it if you can. You should also avoid Touch-Not as it can cause burns and blisters.”

Kes nodded his approval and stood, gesturing for Lev to follow him further into the forest.

Today they were primarily reviewing native Yavin plants, but Kes had a book back at the house he meant to transfer to Lev’s data pad about medicinal plants from different parts of the galaxy. Even at ten, the boy’s obvious interest in healing, both physical and mental, were obvious.

He was honestly surprised that the boy wasn’t Force-sensitive, at least not as much as Jaq was. There was still the possibility he wasn’t completely force-null. Kes had suspected for years that Jyn had some sort of latent force sensitivity.

The two spent another hour or two hiking before returning back to the main house on the ranch and Kes transferred the book to Lev’s data pad. The way the boy’s eyes light up at the gift made Kes smile.

“Thank you Uncle Kes!”

Uncle. That was a reminder that while Poe was off trying to save the galaxy and that Shara was a decade gone, Kes wasn’t entirely alone in the world. The Andor family, and the rest of the Rogue One family, made a point to include Kes in their gatherings and their found family.

Shara would have loved this, Kes thought to himself later after he’d seen Lev home. 

Before he left, Jyn had extracted a promise from Kes to come to dinner at the end of the week. Truth was Kes was in the village once a week at least to see Rogue One. It got lonely on the ranch sometimes.

There was the following Restday to look forward to though, and hopefully a visit from Poe and Jaq in a few months when the Academy had a short break in classes.

Yavin 4 ended up being home for all of them, even after the Rebellion had disbanded, and in a way always would be, Kes thought.


	23. Another Leaves The Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Biva Andor leaves home for the first time.
> 
> Just a few more chapters to go in this fic. Thank you to all my readers who have been along with me for the ride. I probably would never have made it past chapter 1 without y'all!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney

Cassian leaned against the doorframe of his daughter’s bedroom as he watched her pack. She folded each piece of clothing as precisely and small as she good, stuffing it into the rutsack that sat on her bed. She’d already shoved data pads and a few personal mementos in the bag, small ideas she knew from Jaq’s experience that she’d be able to keep.

At Cassian’s side, arms crossed and serious green eyes fixed on Biva, Jyn watched. Biva knew the unspoken question in their eyes, one they’d asked more than once over the past few days.

It was a little late now though. Her flight to the Academy would be leaving from the spaceport that afternoon, and she had her acceptance letter from the Academy saved on her datapad.

Biva set the last item in her bag and zipped it up, then took a deep breath, and turned to face her parents.

“So, everyone coming to the Spaceport?” she asked.

“We are,” Jyn confirmed. She heaved a sigh. She knew Biva’s temperament, so like her own, there was no changing their daughter’s mind. “You holo as soon as you can to let us know you arrived safetly?”

Biva nodded. “I will, Momma.” 

Cassian smiled, but it was bittersweet. “Well, you know what you’re doing. You’ve heard enough horror stories from us to know what you’re getting into.”

Biva nodded again. “I do.” She looked to her father’s brown eyes, and then her mother’s glittering green. “You two already saved the galaxy once, now it’s time for the next generation to do our part.” Her mouth thinned. “At least some of us are willing to admit there’s still a danger out there, even if the Republic won’t. I want to be there when it happens, to do what I can.”

“And the non-aggression agreement?” Cassian asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

Biva’s expression turned serious. “Jaq told me the last time he was here that he’d had another vision. Something else is coming, and someone will be there to meet it, but I have to train first if I’m going to be ready for it, so its into the Academy I go, and eventually to serve the New Republic.” And whatever comes after it, but she didn’t have to say that aloud.

Jyn shut her eyes. Biva was only eighteen, but she was still older by more than a decade than Jyn or Cassian had been when they’d been dragged into the last war.

Her daughter knew what she was doing, even if it hurt to admit it, to admit that her baby would be going into danger.

“Just remember, if you ever need us, we’re here, you’re family will always be here for you,” Jyn said as she pushed pass Cassian and to their daughter pulled her into a tight embrace. Biva hugged her mother tightly. She was only two inches taller than Jyn, and Cassian momentarily thought that his life would always be run by small, ill-tempered females. Even his ‘sister-in-law’ was of a similar temperament.

Cassian crossed the threshold and pulled both women into his own embrace.   
Baze and Chirrut came with them and Lev to the spaceport to see Biva off. Baze and Chirrut had a few quiet words with her and Baze smacked her firmly on the shoulder before they rejoined Cassian and Jyn.

Lev hadn’t spoken two words all morning, but when it was his turn, he threw himself at his older sister, hugging her tightly. He was already as tall as she was at thirteen, and Biva suspected he’d be taller than her the next time she saw him.

“You keep an eye on Jaq when you can,” Lev whispered in her ear as he hugged her. “And save a spot for me when I’m old enough. Someone’s going to have to patch you two up.”

Biva pulled back momentarily and exchanged a glance with him, then nodded in understanding. Lev’s mind was already made up about his field of study, but their parents certainly had hoped he’d either stay on Yavin 4 or come back after his schooling.

Instead he intended to train as a medic and then run head long into the fray with his two older siblings.

“Take care of Momma and Papa for me,” Biva told him. She squeezed his shoulders.

There were a few more hugs and a few years, then Biva was heading past the gate to catch her transport.

She could have easily holoed her Uncle Bodhi to catch a ride on the _Oblivion_ , but Biva had decided she wanted do this on her own, though she highly suspected the Rooks would find some excuse to see her once she’d settled into the Academy.

As she watched Yavin 4 disappear out the window, she took a deep breath and let it out. Home would always be where her family once. Yavin 4 would hold the title of her home world, but home itself?

She smiled faintly, thinking back. She had very few memories of her first trip to Yavin, except a sense of safety that emanated from her Aunt Vexei, and a child’s feeling of safety and contentment and Jyn and Cassian had held her for the first time.

She had years of training and honing under Cassian, Jyn, Baze, Chirrut, Bodhi, Vexei, and even Uncle Kes. She could do this.

She would do this.

Biva Andor turned her gaze from the window and forward, looking towards her future.


	24. Tree, Stone, Mountain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lev must deal with a new development.
> 
> See end of chapter notes for additional explanations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney

The holocall flickered out and Lev sat back on his bed, staring blankly into the space where his sister’s face had hovered a few minutes before. Biva had left home two years ago, Jaq years longer, but Lev had never quite gotten used to the quiet left in the wake of their departure. With both his parents currently at work, Jyn at her shop and Cassian working an evening shift at the cantina, and the sarcastic K-2SO helping Jyn with some odd project at her shop, the house was completely silent now that Lev’s call with his sister was finished.

Lev forced himself to his feet and moved through the house, absently grabbing a left over roll off the kitchen counter as he stared around the empty living room and kitchen. He’d been out of school for an hour and a half and his mother wouldn’t be home for at least another two. 

He should relish the quiet. Normally after a busy day at school or an afternoon spent helping the local medic in her clinic, Lev couldn’t wait for the quiet sanctuary of his room. Today though, an unfamiliar restlessness lurked under the surface.

Lev had always shown a different temperament than either of his siblings or his mother, and to an extent, even his father. Jyn and Biva Andor, though not related by blood, were like wildfires: impossible to contain and even when quiet still smoldering under the surface of ash. Jaq Andor wasn’t as high strung, but he had a deep seated need to see the stars, to be as high in the air as he could, always searching for the next horizon. And Cassian Andor? Well, Lev’s father was determined man with a quiet intensity that lurked in his deep brown eyes.

As a child, Lev’s curiosity had always driven him; a desire to see how everything worked, how something could be taken apart and put back together. But Lev had just as often been content to lurk in the background; to observe and absorb everything going on around him. While Lev knew he’d inherited Cassian’s shrew ability to see through just about anything, and pick up little details most people missed, he had not inherited the underlying restlessness that gave Cassian a thrill to move from assignment to assignment when he’d been younger.

Of all of the Andor children, Lev seemed the most likely to put down roots, unlike his skytouched brother and his whirlwind sister.

The problem, Lev thought, was he knew there was something lurking out there, just beyond the edges of his ability to see and sense, something dark and menacing.

It sounded crazy. Lev wasn’t supposed to be the Force sensitive one, not like Jaq, who had gotten visions far more often than he’d been willing to tell their parents, but Lev had known. He’d sometimes seen a certain look in Jaq’s eyes after a vision, as if Jaq was trying to decipher something he didn’t entirely understand.

The truth was that one reason Lev preferred to stay in the background was the less direct contact he had with others, the less he was likely to have any sense of what they were feeling.

It had come on gradually after puberty, which made Lev think it couldn’t possibly be any type of Force sensitivity, since wasn’t that supposed to appear in early childhood? That’s what Jaq had told him once, when he’d told Lev why Jaq would never train with Luke Skywalker.

A quiet house without anyone in it should be the perfect space – he wasn’t around anyone else, he couldn’t sense anyone’s actual emotions but his own.

Still he felt restless.

Finally Lev headed for the front door, grabbing his staff from its spot by the doorframe as an afterthought. With the house locked up, he headed for his Uncle Baze and Uncle Chirrut’s home. If anyone could help him make sense of this, it would be Uncle Chirrut.

He’d heard his parents occasionally talk about how Baze and Chirrut were getting older and might need to slow down, but K-2SO would tell them the low probability of anything but death slowing those two down.

He found Chirrut, predictably, meditating in the front garden. The old guardian said nothing as Lev approached, but a slight tilt of his head in Lev’s direction told the boy his uncle had noticed him.

He set the staff on the ground and settled into a meditative pose beside his uncle, breathing in and out slowly as Chirrut had taught him years ago. They sat for over a quarter hour like that, meditating, and Lev trying to quiet his mind.

“So,” Chirrut’s voice broke into the silence, and Lev’s eyes snapped open, but he didn’t start. He was used to this almost-abrupt behavior from Chirrut by now. “Emotions? It is not your restlessness you feel, young Lev.”

Lev let out a breath. “Then who’s?”

Chirrut gave a gentle shake of his head. “You must determine that on your own.”

“Is this even normal?” Lev asked, his hands gripping his knees as he sat beside his Uncle.

“Is there truly anything that is ‘normal’?” Chirrut replied. Lev waited a moment, knowing Chirrut had more to say, but the old guardian would say it in his own time, not Lev’s. Finally, “There was a Guardian of the Whills with a similar ability. He himself was the island; people and waves could crash around him, but he never faltered. Other around him sought him as a touch stone to calm themselves. But this was a still he had to learn. He had to learn to deal with the onslaught of other’s emotions, breaking on him like waves on the beach.”

Chirrut’s expression turned thoughtful. “You were always the tree, deeply rooted in the ground. Your sister was the wind, pushing and spinning around anything and everything. Jaq was the bird, always seeking higher and clearer skies. But this is new for you, and as unsettled your roots, but only a little. You will relearn to center yourself. You will be the rock, the mountain, and others will find themselves calmed by you.”

Lev inhaled and exhaled at that prouncement, wondering for a moment if that was what he really wanted.

His drive to see how things ticked, though, had always been because he wanted to make sure things were working properly. He liked fixing and mending what was broken or cracked. If he was going to-  
“Will you teach me, Uncle?” Lev asked.

Chirrut smiled. “I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So: Lev is not Force Sensitive in the way that Jaq or Luke would be. The Force is a powerful, not entirely understood thing. Lev is an empath, with the ability to sense other's emotions, and sometimes learn how to sooth them. That is the extent of his abilities. As a future healer, though, it made sense.


	25. Rolling On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian deal with the fact that their youngest is leaving the nest, and K2 prepares to say goodbye to his second favorite human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney

Jyn sighed and rubbed her forehead as she leaned over the data pad with Cassian. Her green eyes flickered up and met his brown and he shrugged. “It could be worse,” he said at last. “At least he isn't joining the military.”

Jyn gave a half hearted chuckle at her husband's words and nodded. “True. I still can't help but wish our baby wasn't leaving Yavin 4.”

“It's only for a few years,” Cassian said, as much to reassure himself as her. “And he'll be in Cloud City where Lando can keep an eye on him.

Jyn nodded slowly, but she still couldn't help but worry. At 18, Lev had already learned pretty much everything he could from the local medic, and he wanted to continue his training. Full training to become a doctor would either require an expensive medical school, or joining the New Republic forces and letting them pay for it, thus owing years of service to the New Republic.

While one older sibling flew with the New Republic Starfleet and another served as a peacekeeper, and both his parents had served with the Rebellion's military, Lev wasn't particularly keen on serving, and the family couldn't afford medical school.

The compromise was a nursing program offered, surprisingly, in Cloud City. Lev could earn a basic nursing degree in two years, and from there decide if he wanted to further his education. Currently he stated he wanted to return to Yavin 4 after the two year program.

Cassian and Jyn had managed to come up with the funds for the program, and Lev would be under an old friend's watchful eye.

They were still both anxious, but less so than when their two older children had left home.

At least they knew Lev would be safe.

Cassian gently took the data pad out of her hand and set it on the table then put his arm around her shoulder. “They're better prepared than we were,” he told her quietly. “And they know they can come home. None of our children were child soldiers.”

She smiled and leaned into his shoulder. “That's true, but we'll always worry about them.”

He snorted. “Of course we'll worry about them, they're our children. But our children have also grown into three fine adults. We trust them to make their own decisions.”

“We do. I just can't help but want to mother them. I'll probably want to mother them when they're old enough to have their own children, should they ever have any,” Jyn replied.

He chuckled. “We may always want to baby them, the difference is that we won't.”

Jyn's eyes lit up as she considered Cassian, and then considered the clock. “You know, Lev will be heading to Baze and Chirrut's to train after the finishes at the clinic, he won't be home until dinner, and the two of us actually have an afternoon alone together. It's been awhile since we did.”

“More to the point, we'll have the house to ourselves once Lev is in Cloud City,” Cassian laughed softly. He stood and pulled her to her feet. “But until then, why don't we take advantage of this afternoon?”

~~

The _Oblivion_ had a full roster of passengers when it took off from Yavin 4 for Cloud City.  
Jyn and Cassian had decided to accompany Lev to Cloud City and pay a visit to Lando Clarissian while they were at it.

Once the ship jumped to hyperspace, Bodhi, Vexei, Jyn, and Cassian gathered in the main living area of the ship. Lev ducked out, slipping into the room that used to house his cousin Shona. 

He rolled his eyes as he tossed himself onto the bunk, staring up at the ceiling and the old poster of some holostar that Shona had been fond of during her childhood. Shona no longer occupied the ship however, having won her own ship a few years ago in a game of sabbac (Lando had taught her well). Now she hauled freight across the galaxy as her parents had before her, with her wife at her side.

It did mean that Lev had a bit of privacy on the ship, something he still savored, even after all this time. His parents shared the other crew quarters, and Bodhi and Vexei had their own room.

Some part of his suspected that visiting his Uncle Lando was just an excuse for his parents to accompany him, to extend the time they spent together as a family before their last child left the nest. He wasn't entirely wrong, but he knew that his parents did miss Lando. The Andor family hadn't seen the Cloud City Baron in a few years.

There was an advantage to staying with Lando while he was taking classes, Lev thought. In student housing he would have had a roommate, but living with Lando, he'd have a room, abet a small one, to himself.

He grinned faintly to himself. When Jaq and Biva had told him about the barracks they'd lived in, or the shared quarters on base, usually shared with a minimum, of one other person, if not more, he hadn't envied them. 

Lev valued his privacy above all else.

“My calculations indicate that you will attempt to hide in here during most of the trip to Cloud City,” K-2SO informed him from the doorway.

Lev eyed the droid. He didn't ask how Kay had hacked passed the door security. 

“What do you want, Kay?” he sighed.

“I came to check on you,” K-2SO informed him quite seriously. “I shall have little interaction with you once you are residing in Cloud City.”

Lev blinked and sat up, staring at the droid. “Are you saying you'll miss me?” he asked at last.

“I have said nothing of the sort,” Kay replied. “But the Andor residence will be a bit emptier without you residing there.”  
“That's sort of stating the obvious, Kay,” Lev replied. 

K2's eyes whirled for a moment, darkened, then lightened again. “I shall not have a partner for complex math puzzles, once you are gone,” the droid said.

Lev hid a smile. He knew K2 would never admit aloud that he would miss an organic being. This was the closet he was going to get.

“I'll miss you too, Kay,” he replied. He leaned forward on his knees. “Why don't you and I run through a few more puzzles, while we have the chance.”

“I believe that would be an efficient use of our time,” the former Imperial droid replied.


	26. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The galaxy gets flipped on its head and Jyn and Cassian make another life changing decision.
> 
> Author's note: One more chapter after this for As It Breaks. Thank you so much to my readers. I plan on eventually following up and continuing with the story of the Rogue One family beyond this in Breaking Away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney

In Cassian Andor’s mind, Leia Organa-Solo would never be anything but a hero, a survivor, and someone to be admired. She had survived the loss of her entire planet, imprisonment by the Empire, the revelation of a twin brother and a cruel father, and an often absent husband. How she remained so put together through all of that Cassian would never entirely understand, but he knew Leia was a fount of strength.

When the New Republic Senate accused her of being a warmonger, Cassian wondered how many of them actually remembered the fight to free the galaxy from the Empire. How many of them remembered how much Leia had lost in that fight?

When Senator Leia Organa-Solo brought up the increasing attacks from a new faction, the First Order, and the disappearance of so many children over the past several years, and unexplained attacks against both military and civilians alike, the Senate again threw the accusation of warmonger at her.

Cassian and Jyn had admitted long ago that they new the New Republic was ineffective, and worse, willfully blind. They had turned a blind eye years ago to the attack that had cost their sister Vexei her arm and almost her life. They turned a blind eye to every attack connected to the First Order. They wanted peace, they claimed, but in reality, they just wanted to pretend that no danger existed.

And then came the public revelation that Leia Organa-Solo’s father had been Darth Vader.

Despite all the good she had done, despite all she had fought for, all she had lost, the Senate jumped on her like a pack of rabid akk dogs. Leia was forced to resign from the Senate in disgrace.

When they’d spoken to Leia on a private call some weeks after her disgrace, Jyn and Cassian could both tell she was planning something, but they didn’t know what. All she said was that she would be in contact with them when she could.

Now Jyn and Cassian sat across the kitchen table from Kes, Baze, and Chirrut on the Dameron ranch. It was somewhere they knew they wouldn’t be spied on, somewhere safe.

“Do we even know what she’s planning?” Kes Dameron asked as he handed out mugs of caf.

“I don’t know, but we want to be ready when the time comes,” Cassian replied seriously. “Leia isn’t the type to just take things lying down, but she knows how to be careful when necessary.”

Jyn looked thoughtful. “She’ll do something on the side…she can’t do anything officially, because the New Republic would never support it. But she’ll rebuild.”

“Rebuild what, the Rebellion?” Kes asked, frowing.

“Or something like it,” Cassian mused.

“Then we must prepare,” Baze rumbled. “And be ready to go when necessary.”

Chirrut rubbed his husband’s arm. “Some of us must,” he agreed. “But some of us should also maintain a support here. Yavin 4 is quiet and out of the way…perhaps a good stop over when needbe?”

Kes rubbed his face with his hands, his expression tight. “I can’t…I can’t go anywhere right now.” His gaze drifted towards a garden, not far from the house, where his wife was buried. “Not yet anyway. Poe is still with the Starfleet. He needs a place to come home to.” Kes glanced at Cassian and Jyn. “Your children need a place to come home to.”

Cassian tilted his head as he pondered over those words.

“He’s right,” Jyn said aloud. “Kes you’re right. Whatever it is that Leia plans, well, they won’t be able to operate very openly. But they will still need allies around the galaxy, maybe a safe spot to drop in to.” She leaned over the table. “Cassian and I have been restless for years now, since Lev left home. But you, I think you’re pretty rooted to Yavin. Can you be that safe spot?”

Kes nodded slowly. “You, all of you, will always be welcome here. You’re family.”

“Hmm, hand ion cannon, what else..” Baze murmured to himself.

Chirrut reached over and placed his hand on his husband’s arm. “We are staying here,” he told Baze firmly. “We may not like to admit it, but we are getting older, Baze.”

Jyn blinked. “Since when did Chirrut become the logical one?” she asked.

Baze’s gaze softened and he held Chirrut’s hand in his own, then turned his gaze thoughtfully to Kes. “You are been moldering alone in the jungle for too long alone. Perhaps Chirrut and I will move from town and keep you company?”

Kes lifted a brow then laughed softly. “There’s plenty of room, certainly,” he said.

“Then we all have plans to make, things to move, things to pack,” Jyn said. She glanced at Cassian. “We have arrangements to make.”

~~

Jyn moved through the empty house, her eyes taking in each spot where they’d made memories together, and with their children. She smiled a little sadly as she ran her fingers over the kitchen counter.

“You alright?” Cassian asked quietly, coming up behind her. 

“I will be,” Jyn said. She smiled and glanced up at her husband. “Years ago when you told me ‘welcome home,’ I realized that home wasn’t Yavin, or Hoth, or any place…Home is you, Cassian. As long as I am with you, I’ll be happy.”

He kissed her cheek. “Shall we then?”

She nodded and the two of them walked out of the house to hand the keys to the young couple who had purchased their house from them.

Baze and Chirrut had already moved to the Dameron ranch, and Jyn and Cassian would be heading there tonight, with the last of their personal belongings. They hadn’t heard much more from Leia, except that she was working on something and would send them word soon. Kes was more than willing to provide a temporary home for them until they got the word.

Over the past two months they’d received two highly encrypted messages from Biva and Jaq. They knew their children were unhappy with the standing orders from the New Republic, and both were planning something, though they wouldn’t say even in an encrypted message what.

“I never wanted them to be a part of this war,” Jyn sighed as she and Cassian walked away from the house, leaving it to its new owners.

“Neither of us did, but they chose this, Jyn, just as much as you and I chose to stay with the Rebellion after Scarif,” Cassian replied. He paused, pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly. “They know what they’re doing. And if they simply want to come home, they can go to the ranch.”

It brought little comfort, but Jyn and Cassian both knew in their bones it was a necessity.

~~

The Rooks surprised them a month later, when Bodhi and Vexei landed on Yavin 4 and headed straight for the ranch.

“Be ready to leave in two days,” Bodhi informed them as he sat with Kes, Cassian, and Jyn in Kes’s kitchen. Vexei was visiting Baze and Chirrut in their newly built cottage on the ranch, not too far from the main house.

“Oh?” Cassian inquired as he watched Bodhi sip caf. “Leia sent you, didn’t she?”

Bodhi nodded seriously, running fingers through his gray streaked hair. “She did. I’ve got the coordinates for the new base.”

“Base?” Jyn asked.

Bodhi nodded. “It’s amazing what Leia manages to do, and what she manages to organize. You’ll see a lot of old Rebellion troops, and some newer faces. There have already been defections from the New Republic.”

“What are they calling themselves now?” Kes inquired.

“The Resistance,” Bodhi replied. “They aren’t rebelling against the New Republic, as kriffing useless as they’ve been. They’re resisting the First Order, among other things.”

Jyn chewed on her lower lip. “The kids?” she asked, meeting Cassian’s gaze.

Bodhi snorted. “Don’t worry about your kids, Jyn. Shona and her wife are meeting with them somewhere in another month or so. They’re just waiting for the right time.”

“We knew this was coming,” Cassian told her when he saw Jyn tense.

She sighed and rubbed her temples. “I know. I’ll feel better when I see them on the ground though.” She narrowed her eyes at Bodhi. “How do you know our children are defecting before we do?”

Bodhi held up his hands. “We just found out a day or two ago from Shona. We saw her on the new base. Evidently she and her cousins have quite a communication system set up, encoded and everything.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Cassian agreed. He glanced at Jyn. “We’re doing this?”

“We’re doing this,” she confirmed.

Bodhi smiled slight. “Well then, welcome to the Resistance.”


	27. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian officially join the Resistance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney
> 
> Thanks to all of my readers who joined me on this journey. I hope you enjoyed my take on Cassian and Jyn's journey after the war.   
>  It started out as an angst oneshot and took on a life on its own. 
> 
> Special thanks to aewgliriel, NewLeeland, imsfire, KTarra, LaurenNico8, Tigersmeleth, KosetsunoTenshi , K_lara7, Meg_rh, sylica, Sorcie , stardvst, asternut, RealNorwegian, TheSarcasticNazgul,, headinfantasy, Discordchick, Flyingpancakes, and all my commenters and kudoers. I don't think the story would have gotten this far without y'all!
> 
> For anyone curious about what happens after they join the Resistance, sometime in late July or August probably I intend to continue their adventures and those of the Rogue One kids in Breaking Away.

Bodhi Rook set the _Oblivion_ down on the landing strip with ease. As the ship settled, he glanced back towards the passenger quarters and called, “You all ready to meet your General?”

“She'll be better than Draven ever was,” Jyn shot back as the cargo hold ramp slowly lowered. 

Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso-Andor disembarked first, the hot, humid air of D'Qar hitting them as they stepped out into the open air.

Cassian shot an amused glance at his wife. “Reminds me of the first time you entered a Rebel base.”

“This is under slightly friendly circumstances,” Jyn said, smiling back. She glanced towards the figures approaching their ship. There were a few soldiers in dull tan and gray, and a couple of bright orange flightsuits of pilots. It reminded Jyn for a moment of a Force vision Jaq had once told them about.

And then Leia Organa-Solo was standing in front of them. For all of the sorrow and pain Leia had experienced, she greeted them with a relieved smile.

Jyn paused and saluted, and Cassian did the same. 

“General Organa-Solo,” Cassian began. “We're reporting for duty.”

“Lieutenant Erso-Andor, Colonel Andor,” Leia greeted them with a returned salute, then she snorted. “I think you're due for a promotion, Jyn. You should have made Captain before you left.”

Jyn shrugged. “Well, we aren't Rebellion or New Republic, so you whatever you want, General.”

Leia laughed and stepped forward, pulling them both into a firm embrace. “Thank you both, for coming.”

“As if we'd do anything else,” Cassian replied. “We were with you in the Rebellion, we will be here with you in the Resistance. Kes sends his regards, but we agreed someone needs to keep the home hearth burning.”

“He's earned it,” Leia agreed. She glanced towards the _Oblivion_. “Lt. Commander Rook, Captain Rook,” she greeted Bodhi and Vexei.

Both Rooks gave a smart salute before Bodhi came forward and gave Leia a tight hug. “How are things, General?”

Leia glanced towards a small fleet of X-Wings. “We're getting new recruits on a fairly weekly basis,” she replied. “Oh, your daughter says Hello, by the way.”

“Where is she now?” Vexei asked, coming up to Bodhi's side.

Leia glanced at Jyn and Cassian and beckoned the Rogue One family to follow her.

“I'll catch up,” Vexei advised, turning back to close up the ship.

Bodhi, Jyn, and Cassian followed Leia across the tarmac and into a building that had a rather haphazard look. Jyn glanced with some concern towards the roof.

“It withstands the rain and wind of this place,” Leia replied to the unspoken question. “We're still working on quarters for everyone. Some are still camping, but give us time.”

“The Rebellion wasn't built in a day, the Resistance can't be either,” Cassian remarked.

“Truer words have never been spoken,” Leia replied, leading them into her temporary office. They all took seats on the slightly uncomfortable metal chairs and Leia folded her fingers together as she regarded the original crew of Rogue One. “Shona's due to meet with the Andors in a few weeks at an Outer Rim planet,” she told them. She eyed Jyn. “It is unsurprising that any of your children chose to defect, so when Shona Rook told me all three would be coming, along with Jaq's husband, I wasn't surprised.”

“Our communications have been touch and go,” Cassian said. “Though we told them we were leaving Yavin. They knew what it meant.” His expression darkened a moment. “I think it was the attack Dobeen lost is leg in that's been brewing on Jaq's mind.”

“That was what, year and a half ago?” Bodhi frowned.

“And it was definitely a First Order attack,” Leia said, confirming everything they'd thought from the beginning aloud . “And of course the New Republic pretends they don't exist...it would be 'uncomfortable' for them to admit.”

Jyn sighed a little mournfully. “Almost seems like everything we fought for was for nothing.”

Leia shook her head. “Our children grew up at least more or less in peace. It is now our responsibility to restore that peace, so that our grandchildren will know it.”

“We'll make it worth it,” Bodhi said firmly. 

“We will,” Vexei chimed in, slipping into the room. She glanced at the lack of chairs and shrugged, then to no one's surprise took a seat on one of Bodhi's legs. Leia hid a smile of amusement.

“I'll let you all get settled in,” Leia told them. “Jyn, Cassian, take a day or two to familiarize yourself with the base. Bodhi, Vexei, I can give you a day on the ground before I have to send you back out again.”

Jyn gave Bodhi a curious look.

“Bodhi and I are bringing defectors in,” Vexei supplied. “Defectors and supplies, as we can. Our ship is known for shipping, so it doesn't look too suspicious to people looking for that sort of thing.”

“Shona and her wife are doing the same, they just haven't officially attached their names to the Resistance,” Bodhi added.

“Yet,” Vexei replied, rolling her eyes. “Give it time.”

“She is your daughter,” Bodhi grinned fondly at his wife.

“You two are saps,” Leia informed the Rooks. “Jyn, Cassian, I'd like to meet with you two again after dinner. I've got a few things to attend to for now.”

“Of course,” Cassian answered.

As the four existed Leia's office, the Rooks said they'd see Jyn and Cassian at dinner and wandered off to talk to the pilots. “Leia'll show you your quarters after your meeting, though you can sleep on ship of you really want,” Bodhi told them.

Cassian slipped his hand over Jyn's as they walked back outside. 

She turned to face him as they reached an out of the way area to observe the tarmac. “Seems like Deja Vu, doesn't it?” she asked.

“But under more pleasant circumstances,” Cassian replied. He leaned forward and kissed his wife. “You alright with this?”

“I am,” she said. “You?”

Cassian just smiled as she lay her head against his shoulder. “Welcome home, Jyn,” he replied.


End file.
